Publication of the 70th Financial Trouble Coordination Council Minutes
Overview
At the 70th Financial Trouble Coordination Council meeting held on June 19, 2026, the meeting addressed the FY2025 business performance of eight designated dispute resolution organizations, the impact of the spread of AI and social media on financial ADR, the consultation intake status of the Financial Services User Consultation Office, and the activities of the Financial ADR Liaison Council. In FY2025, 8,757 complaints were accepted for processing and 1,441 dispute resolution procedures were accepted, both increasing from the previous fiscal year. While AI and social media are used to search for consultation services, gather information, prepare documents, and assist operations, challenges included misinformation, excessive expectations regarding the system, personal information and confidentiality obligations, and responses to hallucinations. The meeting indicated that discussions would continue on accurate information disclosure, human review, cooperation with relevant organizations, supplementary use of AI, and the development of rules.
Key points
- In FY2025, the eight designated organizations accepted 8,757 complaints for processing, an increase of 13% from the previous fiscal year.
- The number of accepted dispute resolution procedures was 1,441, an increase of 10% from the previous fiscal year.
- AI and social media are useful for preparing consultations and assisting operations, but they require careful explanations regarding misinformation and misunderstandings of the system.
- The meeting indicated that AI use in financial ADR should proceed as a supplementary measure, subject to human verification to preserve individual judgment and neutrality.
Overview
The meeting was held on June 19, 2026, at Central Government Building No. 7, using both in-person and online formats. As the 70th meeting, its agenda included the business performance of designated dispute resolution organizations, the impact of the spread of AI and social media on financial ADR, the intake status of the Financial Services User Consultation Office, and an overview of the Financial ADR Liaison Council.
In FY2025, the eight designated organizations accepted 8,757 complaints for processing and 1,441 dispute resolution procedures, both exceeding the previous fiscal year. Both procedures have been trending upward since around FY2021, with increased awareness of the financial ADR system, more active personal and economic activity, and a rise in complaints concerning financial crime cases cited as contributing factors.
The discussion organized the impact of AI and social media into three areas: causes of trouble, situations in which users use them to prepare consultations or applications, and situations in which designated organizations use them to assist their operations. Although the magnitude of the impact currently differs among organizations, the meeting indicated that information sharing and further consideration would continue.
Impact
Examples were reported in which users gathered information in advance through AI and social media, found consultation services, and consulted after organizing the issues and facts. The Life Insurance Association of Japan indicated that these tools could lower barriers to using procedures and reduce the perceived burden.
Conversely, misinformation and excessive trust in AI responses led to claims differing from the facts, applications outside the system's scope, and misunderstandings that users could proceed to mediation without undergoing complaint processing, resulting in cases requiring additional time for explanations and verification. Some participants also stated that the practical burden on consultation staff was increasing.
The meeting shared consultations concerning fraud, unauthorized transfers, and side-job scams triggered by social media and the internet. In the money-lending industry, information is being shared with consumer affairs centers, moneylenders, and credit information agencies, while warnings are provided at the time of application.
Details
On the user side, reported changes included using AI to research consultation services, prepare documents and confirmation forms, and make claims based on AI responses. Although AI directs users to consultation services, some users misunderstood them as organizations that conduct settlement negotiations on their behalf, and some made claims based on laws that do not apply to ordinary insurance products.
Designated organizations use online intake, database management, electronic file merging and aggregation, preparation of statistical materials, text mining, online solicitation of opinions, PDF conversion, email, online storage, web conferences, and speech recognition and transcription. Some organizations had begun trialing generative AI for searches that do not contain personal information and for preparing materials.
Potential future applications identified included transcribing and summarizing calls, assisting with the preparation of consultation records, classifying complaints, providing chatbot responses to routine questions, organizing issues, preparing records and statistical materials, and supporting the preparation of settlement proposals. However, participants expressed caution about entrusting AI with decisions in highly individualized disputes or persuasion of the parties.
Challenges identified included hallucinations, information accuracy, leakage of personal and sensitive information, non-public procedures and confidentiality obligations, cloud environments, cost-effectiveness, neutrality and fairness, and excessive reliance on AI. The meeting indicated a desire to continue discussing accurate information disclosure, improving staff literacy, legal compliance, human verification, and rules and codes of conduct for supplementary use.