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The story
Japan Post Bank caps its ordinary savings accounts at ¥13 million, and the number of customers nationwide who have gone over that limit has now reached roughly 1 million. Since the ¥9.7 trillion in excess deposits earns no interest at all, Japan Post Bank has asked the government to scrap the cap. Private banks, however, are pushing back hard, arguing it would strip away the deposits their whole business model relies on. Because the government holds a stake in Japan Post Holdings, the cap has historically existed to stop an implicit government guarantee from distorting competition — so whether to remove it is anything but a simple call. On 5ch, the thread ranged widely: debate over whether Japan Post Bank is effectively state-run, questions (and answers) about why it even wants the cap lifted, and speculation over where the oddly specific ¥13 million figure came from.
The number of Japan Post Bank customers exceeding the ¥13 million cap on ordinary savings accounts (roughly equivalent to a regular deposit account) has reached 1 million. The ¥9.7 trillion in excess deposits earns no interest, putting customers at a disadvantage. The bank has asked the government to remove the cap. Private financial institutions, which compete fiercely for the deposits their businesses are built on, are pushing back hard, calling it an unfair encroachment on private business.
The government holds a stake in Japan Post Holdings, Japan Post Bank’s parent company. Regulations exist precisely so an implicit government guarantee doesn’t distort the competitive landscape. The savings cap was set by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and the Financial Services Agency…(continued in the paid edition, 1,408 characters remaining)
Nikkei, October 20, 2026, 2:00 AM
Source: nikkei.com / Original article here
What people said
That's basically a state bank.
Like the old phone monopoly or the national railway — still basically state-run, just with a private-sector coat of paint.
Compared to a few years ago,
it's actually gotten decent.
With ¥10 million even in a regular savings account
you get about ¥50,000 a year in interest now.
Used to be like ¥100 a year even on ¥10 million 😭
So just keep your money somewhere with a better rate normally, and transfer it over to Japan Post fee-free whenever you actually need cash, no?
Basically using it as a piggy bank for spare change at that point.
once you're over ¥10 million you'd just spread it across other banks
or buy government bonds with it.
Why is Japan Post Bank itself so desperate to add interest that it's lobbying the government for it?
If they're that dying to pay out interest, just raise the rate on deposits within the existing limit.
I could argue against that, but there's something to it too.
Looking at the big picture, I end up agreeing with that take.
Just split it up and park it at a brokerage or an online bank.
Having an ATM even at a post office way out in the middle of nowhere is seriously impressive.
Yeah, even places with no convenience store still have a post office.
Japan Post Bank is scarier than even Norinchukin Bank (the big agricultural co-op bank that took huge losses).
Japan Post Bank is using your deposits to buy both US Treasuries and Japanese government bonds, so it's taking losses on both fronts at once.
That's why it's cutting staff costs and hiking fees to try to plug the hole.
On top of that, it's making it harder to actually withdraw your own deposits.
If you think 'it's my money, of course I can withdraw it,' go to a post office and try pulling out ¥1 million.
They'll refuse you.
You can withdraw ¥1 million just fine.
Source: me, just did it.
Lol, here comes the conspiracy-theory uncle.
Doesn't really feel fair to everyone else, though.
Most of the major city banks are basically free too, except Mizuho.
Keeping that whole ATM network running isn't free either, mind you.
I guess once you've got that much, juggling that many accounts gets annoying too.
Business funds would just sit in a checking account anyway, so who's actually depositing this much personally?
Once you're elderly, splitting your money across multiple accounts just becomes impossible to manage.
For regional banks ¥10 million is the number to watch, but with the megabanks you don't really need to worry at all.
If you're the type who can park ¥10 million each in megabanks that aren't going to collapse, you'd probably be better off putting the rest into gold or something.
You're not going to spend that much cash anyway — someone like that is probably already rich enough to live off dividends.
Middle-class people aren't holding it in cash lol.
It's either a loan or NISA (Japan's tax-free investment account).
A loan by itself isn't an asset.
It depends what the loan is backing.
If it's real estate, the value might rise down the road —
though it's more likely to fall.
If that's not what you meant, you should've said 'mortgage,' not just 'loan.'
Wait, what? A loan?
Holding assets through NISA?
Guess you don't realize NISA only has a tiny contribution limit.
That's kind of sad.
Wasn't planning to use it anyway.
Nah, just buy government bonds with it.
If you're not gonna use it, dump it all into the new NISA and buy S&P 500 or an all-world index fund.
You're throwing away interest on nearly half of that.
Move ¥10 million of it to an online bank and you'd be earning roughly ¥100,000 a year pre-tax.
Well, if it's not already set up, at this point I'd tell my parents online banking isn't worth it either, since the risk of AI-driven attacks just keeps climbing anyway.
My husband dumped the entire inheritance into Japan Post Bank because he's convinced it can never fail.
It's not my money though, so there's not much I can do about it.
Something like — so that if you've got ¥10 million sitting there and a bonus payment lands, you're still under the cap.
I recall it used to be ¥10 million quite a while back, so maybe they bumped it up because of inflation?
Background and Key Points of the Debate
The ¥13 million cap on ordinary savings accounts exists under authorization from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications and the Financial Services Agency, specifically to keep the government’s stake in Japan Post Holdings — and the implicit government guarantee that comes with it — from distorting competition with private banks. Behind the push to abolish the cap is Japan Post Bank’s own concern that the low limit keeps it from attracting wealthy depositors’ money, and the thread featured a noticeable back-and-forth between posts questioning that motive and posts explaining it. What’s easy to miss, though, is that this cap only applies to ‘ordinary savings’ accounts on their own — a separate ‘time deposit’ category carries an identical cap, so combining the two effectively allows deposits of up to ¥26 million. The oddly specific ¥13 million figure, meanwhile, is simply the result of a previous ¥10 million cap being raised over time, adjusted along the way to track shifts in prices and interest rates. There’s more nuance here than a simple ‘encroachment on private business’ versus ‘benefit to customers’ framing can capture.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Breaking News+) thread “1 Million Exceed ‘Postal Savings’ Cap — Private Financial Institutions Push Back Against Removal Request.”
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