Japan money market

Confidence: Likely Updated 2026-05-19 Review by 2026-11-15 Sources 5 Machine-translated Original (JA)
#money-market#BoJ#call-market#tanshi#liquidity
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Wiki route

This entry sits under money-market index. Read it against Call market structure for peer / contrast context and BoJ open market operations for the broader system / regulatory boundary.

TL;DR

Japan’s money market is the short-term funding and liquidity-adjustment layer where the Bank of Japan implements monetary policy, financial institutions manage reserve / settlement balances, and tanshi companies intermediate short-term funds. The most important operating signal is the uncollateralized overnight call rate, because BoJ guidelines for money market operations use it as the short-rate target in the current framework.

This page is the domain overview. Use call market structure for the call-market mechanism and BoJ open market operations for implementation tools.

Market Map

LayerFunctionFinWiki route
Policy decisionBoJ Policy Board sets the guideline for money market operations at MPMs.boj-monetary-policy
Operating marketShort-term rate formation, especially uncollateralized overnight call transactions.call-market-structure
Market operationsBoJ supplies or absorbs funds through open market operations.boj-open-market-operations
IntermediariesBanks, securities firms, trust banks, and tanshi companies manage short-term liquidity.tokyo-tanshi, central-tanshi, ueda-yagi-tanshi
Data layerBoJ publishes call money market data and market-operation results.BoJ statistics / market-operation releases

Why It Matters

Money-market structure is the transmission belt between monetary policy and financial-company earnings:

  • Megabanks: reserve balances, deposit beta, loan repricing, JGB portfolio valuation, and wholesale funding costs.
  • Trust banks / custody banks: settlement liquidity, collateral movement, and short-rate effects on institutional cash.
  • Securities firms: repo, collateral finance, JGB market-making, and yield-curve activity.
  • Tanshi companies: brokerage demand and call-market activity, especially when short-rate normalization revives overnight trading.
  • Policy-finance / public institutions: cash management and issuance conditions are affected by short-rate and JGB-market liquidity.

Post-YCC Reading Rule

After the BoJ’s March 2024 regime shift away from negative rates and Yield Curve Control, the money market became more useful again as an observable policy-transmission surface. The key check is not only the policy-rate headline; it is whether the actual uncollateralized overnight call rate, transaction volume, reserve environment, and BoJ operations all point in the same direction.

Sources

  • Bank of Japan: Money Market.
  • Bank of Japan: What are market operations?
  • Bank of Japan: How have the Bank’s guidelines for market operations changed?
  • Bank of Japan: Call Money Market Data.
  • Bank of Japan: 2024年度の金融市場調節.