Promulgation of Cabinet Office Order Amending Money Lending Rules

On August 6, 2026, the Financial Services Agency announced that the Cabinet Office Order Partially Amending the Ordinance for Enforcement of the Money Lending Business Act had been promulgated and entered into force. While regulations based on the Money Lending Business Act aim, among other things, to protect borrowers, including by preventing multiple indebtedness, victims of the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake may encounter problems with legally required procedures or documents even when seeking loans that do not exceed their repayment capacity. The amendment was made in light of these circumstances.

The purpose of the amendment is to eliminate the risk of an adverse outcome in which victims of the 2026 Kumamoto Earthquake are unable to borrow funds they would otherwise be able to obtain, for example because they cannot prepare specified documents.

The procedures made more flexible are borrowing procedures for expenses recognized as urgently necessary under generally accepted social norms, which constitute an exception to the total lending volume restriction; borrowing procedures for individual proprietors, which likewise constitute an exception; borrowing procedures for cash advances through a maximum-limit arrangement, namely lending within the total lending volume restriction; and borrowing procedures when annual income is calculated by combining the spouse's annual income. For details, reference should be made to the materials provided by the Financial Services Agency.

This Cabinet Office Order was deemed to fall under the circumstances specified in Article 39, Paragraph 4, Item 1 of the Administrative Procedure Act, namely circumstances in which it is urgently necessary, in the public interest, to establish an order or other measures and difficult to carry out the procedure. Accordingly, the public comment procedure under that Act was not conducted.