Tokyo courts foreign asset managers to unlock 1,830 trillion yen trove

Tokyo

HOUSEHOLDS in Japan have accumulated a whopping 1,830 trillion yen (S$22.6 trillion) in assets as at end-2018, of which 984 trillion yen, or over half, is held as bank deposits and cash.

But faced with an ageing society and negative rates, traditionally risk-averse Japanese are growing more open to long-term investments. And the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG) wants to ease the entry of foreign asset managers into the city to accelerate this shift.