(Purpose) Article 1. The purpose of this Law is to promote development of financing by cooperative system by may of stabilizing credit, stabilizing its sound execution, and keeping the public confidence by protecting the interests of investors, depositors and creditors.

(License) Article 2. Credit cooperative as provided for by the Smaller Enterprises, Etc. Cooperative Law (Law No.181 of 1949)(including federation of credit cooperatives which performs business mentioned in Article 77 paragraph 1 item (1) of the said Law;hereinafter referred to as "credit cooperatives" ) cannot carry on credit business without receiving a license from the Minister of Finance. 2 Those who intend to receive the license mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall submit an application to the Minister of Finance together with the articles of corporation and documents describing the kind and method of the business and the plan of business.

(Amount of Capital) Article 3. Credit Cooperative shall keep the amount of its capital at least at 3% of the amount of total liabilities. 2 The amount of total liabilities prescribed in the preceding paragraph means the total amount of debtor accounts plus the carry-over loss and deducting contributed fund, surplus (excluding reserves to be used for designated objectives other than payment of dividends) and the carry-over profit.

(Restriction on Employment of Running Fund) Article 4. Credit cooperatives shall not use the running fund for business in other way than in the following: (1) Deposits, savings or monetary trust to banks, trust companies, Central Bank for Agriculture and Forestry, Central Bank for Commercial and Industrial Cooperatives, Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives, Federation of Fishery Cooperatives, or Credit Cooperatives; (2) Deposits to the Deposits Bureau of the Ministry of Finance or postal savings; (3) Acquisition of national bonds, prefectural government bonds or other securities authorized by the Minister of Finance.

(Business Year) Article 5. The business year of Credit Cooperative shall be from April to March of the following year.

(Application Mutatis Mutandis of the Banking Law and the Savings Bank Law) Article 6. Article 8 (Legal Reserve Fund), Article 10 (Business Report), Articles 12 to 14 inclusive (Statement of Audit, Restriction on Management of Another Company of Managing Officers and permission of Amalgamation) and Articles 19 to 31 inclusive (Suspension of Payment of Deposits and Supervision by the Competent Minister and the Court) of the Banking Law (Law No.21 of 1927) and Article 16 (Change of Articles of Corporation or Business) of the Savings Bank Law (Law No.74 of 1921) shall apply mutatis mutandis to credit cooperative.

(Penal Provisions) Article 7. In case of violating the provision of Article 2 paragraph 1, any representative, agent, employee or other worker of credit cooperative who has committed the act, shall be subjected to a fine not exceeding 5,000 yen.

Article 8. In case of falling under any of the following items, any representative, agent, employee or other worker of credit cooperative who has committed the act, shall be subjected to a penal servitude not exceeding 1 year or a fine not exceeding 1,000 yen: (1) In case of violating the provision of Article 4; (2) In case of having deceived a government office or the public by false entries in a business report in accordance with the provision of Article 10 of the Banking Law which applies mutatis mutandis in Article 6 (hereinafter referred to as "the Banking Law" in this Article and Article 9) or in report of audit in accordance with the provision of Article 12 of the Banking Law; (3) In case of obstructing examination, is obstructed at the time of making examination in accordance with the provision of Article 21 of the Banking Law by concealing record books and documents, by false statement, or by other means.

Article 9. In case of falling under any of the following items, any representative, agent, employee or other worker of credit cooperative who has committed the act, shall be subjected to a fine not less than 10 yen and not exceeding 1,000 yen: (1) In case of violating the provision of Article 8 or Article 13 of the Banking Law; (2) In case of having neglected to keep the documents required to be kept in credit cooperative in accordance with the provision of Article 12 of the Banking Law or to submit to the competent Minister the documents required to be submitted in accordance with the provision of Article 10 or 20 of the Banking Law, or having failed to enter the particulars required to be entered therein or having made false statements therein; (3) In case of having neglected to make the notifications or public notices in accordance with the provision of Article 19 of the Banking Law, or having made false notifications or public notices; (4) In case of violating the orders of the competent Minister of state or court issued in accordance with the provision of Article 22, 23, 26, or 29 of the Banking Law; (5) In case of violating the provision of Article 16 paragraph 1 of the Savings Bank Law which applies mutatis mutandis in Article 6; (6) In case of violating the order of the competent Minister issued in accordance with the provision of Article 16, paragraph 2 of the Savings Bank Law which applies mutatis mutandis in Article 6.

Article 10. A person who has committed an offence referred to in Article 8 may, according to circumstances, be punishable with both penal servitude and fine.

Article 11. In case a representative, agent, employee or other worker of credit cooperative has acted in violation of Article 7 or 8 in connection with the business of the credit cooperative concerned, the said Credit Cooperative shall be subjected to a fine prescribed in either of these Articles in addition to the punishment imposed on the actual offender.