First of all, we strongly recommend you do the registration application yourself (in-house).

The first step is to call your local Finance Bureau (if your company is based in Tokyo, your contact will be the Tokyo Finance Office of Kanto Local Finance Bureau in Yushima) and send them necessary documents such as your company profile and business plan.  The local Finance Bureau will send you their “summary format” which you will fill out and send back.

Then, they will send you a “confirmation checklist” which is a list of indications and questions about the information in your summary.  After you answer and send back this checklist, they will get back to you with the next “confirmation checklist”.

You will be required to go through this routine several times before the final version of your “Summary of Applicant” and all necessary attachments are ready.

And once the officials in charge conclude your company is qualified for FIBO registration, they will ask you to submit the documents formally.  In about two months from submitting your final documents, you will be registered and licensed as a FIBO.

The whole process will take several months, but over that time, you will get to learn so much through interacting with the regulatory authorities, such as what exactly they are looking for in the financial instruments business you are about to enter, what kind of human resources are in short supply, what kind of internal control system you need to establish, what level of knowledge and understanding of the Financial Instruments and Exchange Law and such is required, what needs to be done before you actually start operating after completing the registration procedures, etc.

The Company profile (business plan, etc.) you submit at the beginning of the process must be well prepared.  However, you might not be sure what the mandatory matters are.  You might not know how to express your enthusiasm for contributing to investors.  You might have difficulty understanding the intention of your Local Finance Bureau with their “confirmation checklist”. 

You can always seek support from a consulting company to help you with these issues to carry out the procedure smoothly.  Especially, we believe, the professional assistance will help you to accumulate knowledge and experience necessary for the business you target.