October 31, 2008
Bank of Japan
Payment and Settlement Systems Department

The Bank of Japan publishes basic statistical data on major Japanese payment and settlement systems, such as the volume and value of settlements, in its monthly release of "Payment and Settlement Statistics."  The Bank started to release "Payment and Settlement Statistics" in September 1991, and since then has revised the contents of the statistics several times to accommodate structural changes in the payment and settlement systems and to better meet user needs.*

• For previous revisions to the contents of "Payment and Settlement Statistics," please see the Bank's web site.

In October 2008, the Bank implemented Phase 1 of the next-generation real-time gross settlement (RTGS-XG) project of the BOJ-NET Funds Transfer System.  As a result, foreign exchange yen transactions, which were previously settled mainly on a net basis in the Foreign Exchange Yen Clearing System, are now settled on a real-time gross basis in the BOJ-NET Funds Transfer System.  The Bank is now considering revising the contents of "Payment and Settlement Statistics."  For further details, please see the proposed new format (PDF, 60KB) of "Payment and Settlement Statistics."

Proposed revisions to the contents are outlined below:

1. Creating sub-items in Table A-1. "Settlement via BOJ Current Accounts": Due to the changeover to the full RTGS mode of foreign exchange yen transactions, the sub-items, "Call Market Transactions," "DVP for JGB Transactions," and "Foreign Exchange Yen Transactions," are to be created under the item "Funds Transfers."
2. Revising Table A-3. "JGB Book-Entry Transfers and JGB Transfer Registrations": JGB settlement data for the JGB Book-Entry System and the JGB Registration System, which have been reported separately under "JGB Book-Entry Transfers and JGB Transfer Registrations," are to be aggregated, because the JGB Registration System is rarely used today.  Figures reported separately for these two systems would continue to be available at "BOJ Time-series Data Search."
3. Deleting Table A-3-3. "Other Figures related to DVP for JGBs": This table is to be deleted, because the same data are available at "Figures on Settlement of Japanese Government Bonds."
4. The year-on-year percentage change is to be added, with a view to better meeting user needs.

Any comments regarding the above proposed revisions are invited by Friday, November 28, 2008.  After considering the comments received, the Bank will finalize the revised contents of "Payment and Settlement Statistics" and release them on its web site.  Together with the release, the Bank may make public the comments received. If you prefer anonymity, please specify that in your comments.

Comments may be sent to the following:

To: Payment and Settlement Systems Department, Bank of Japan

1. (1) By mail: P.O. Box 30, Nihonbashi, Tokyo 103-8660, Japan
2. (2) By fax: 81-3-5255-6752
3. (3) By e-mail: post.payment@boj.or.jp
   (title: Revisions to "Payment and Settlement Statistics")