Japan's finance minister has reappointed Kanda as its top currency diplomat in the mid-year personnel reshuffle.
Masato Kanda is Japan's vice finance minister for international affairs, AKA 'top currency diplomat'. Japan's finance ministry is the relevant authority in Japan for ordering intervention in the JPY . Kanda is in charge of the relevant department, so it's him who would be directing Bank of Japan intervention, should it come to that.
Some comments from Suzuki, the big dog Minister of Finance following:
- carefully watching impact of changes in US monetary policy on Japan's economy
- watching fx market moves with even more sense of urgency while working with BOJ
The yen strengthened overnight after the shock announcement from the Swiss National Bank:
Yeah, you read that right, yen up on SNB raising rates. Markets are on edge. The reasoning went that if the SNB could make a shock decision then so too could the BOJ. It was enough for dealers to attack stops for long USD/JPY positions.
Anyway back to now, more from Suzuki:
- Expects the Bank of Japan to continue its efforts to achieve price target sustainably
(i.e. to hit the BOJ 2% inflation target and sustain that rate)
- rapid yen weakening seen in FX market recently
- monetary policy is up to the BOJ
- the government must respect the independence of the BOJ
USD/JPY update, the initial move on the SNB is noted with an arrow):
