Takafumi Sato, Former Commissioner of Japan’s Financial Services Agency, Joins Promontory Financial Group

Mr. Sato brings to Promontory a wealth of knowledge and experience in financial regulation and supervision. Prior to serving as Commissioner from July 2007 to July 2009, Mr. Sato was Director-General of the FSA’s Supervisory Bureau from 2004 to 2007, and was Director-General of its Inspection Bureau from 2002 to 2004.

“Takafumi Sato is a leading authority on regulatory, supervisory and policy matters in Japan and international markets, and he is highly regarded by colleagues and peers for his expertise,” said Eugene A. Ludwig, Promontory Financial Group’s founder, Chairman and CEO. “We are honored that Mr. Sato is joining Promontory. Our clients in the U.S., Europe and Asia will benefit from his deep understanding of regulatory, compliance and risk management matters,” Mr. Ludwig, who was U.S. Comptroller of the Currency from 1993 to 1998, added.

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2007, Mr. Sato participated actively in the work of the Financial Stability Forum - known today as the Financial Stability Board - as a member of the Forum’s Working Group on Market and Institutional Resilience. He also was a member of the Monitoring Board of the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation during his tenure as the Commissioner of the FSA, the country’s top banking, securities and insurance regulator. From 1999 to 2001, Mr. Sato was a professor at Nagoya University.

“It is my greatest pleasure to be invited as one of the distinguished International Advisory Board members of Promontory Financial Group, known as an unparalleled global financial advisory firm and an honest broker between financial institutions and government throughout more than 50 countries,” Mr. Sato said. “I have recognized from the current global financial crisis and have regained firm confidence that an adequate and delicate combination between market mechanism principles and effective supervision and regulation is critical to the stability of both the global and national financial system. I hope to bring value to Promontory and hence to the financial industry with the experience, knowledge and personal network among regulators as the former head of Japan FSA.”

Mr. Sato received a Bachelor’s degree from Hitotsubashi University, a Master of Philosophy in Economics from the University of Oxford, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Nagoya University.

In addition to Mr. Ludwig and Mr. Sato, Promontory’s global leadership team includes former U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Alan Blinder; Jeffrey Carmichael, the founding chairman of the Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority; Michael Foot, former managing director of the U.K.’s Financial Services Authority; Takuya Fujii, former government-appointed CEO of nationalized Nippon Credit Bank during the Japanese Bank crisis; Sheryl Kennedy, former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada; Elizabeth McCaul, former Superintendent of Banks of the State of New York; and Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, former Chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and Italy’s Minister of Finance from 2006 to 2008.

Weber Shandwick Worldwide
Bill Atkinson
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