Abstract: Today, extremely important structural changes are taking place in finance They are progressing not only in Japan but also simultaneously in many advanced countries as well as in the international financial system There have been changes in the demand structure in many financial markets, changes in the supply conditions of financial services owing to the progress in communication and information technology, and, further, reform or relaxation of the regulatory system that has been prompted by these changes It appears that these changes have exerted an enormous impact on the functions of the financial system and led to changes in the interrelationship between the financial and real sides of national economies

Abstract: This paper makes a brief review of the good intentions that has resulted to the world’s worst financial recession. It offers several measures necessary to assist the adjustment process of the financial system. In addition, it also discusses the factors outside the scope of the financial system but are considered essential to the adjustment programs.

Abstract: From the standpoint of internationalization and liberalization, the financial system in Japan, together with the food control system and the farm and livestock price stabilization program, is an area where the systemic reform is least achieved. Judging from the strict regulation that has gone on for a long period of time, the financial industry is clearly regarded as a "governmentally regulated industry." This is due to the fact that, to plan and realize economic reconstruction and development in the postwar period subject to scarce foreign exchange and capital, it was necessary for the government to intervene in the market and regulate financial and capital transactions and financial institutions that handle them, instead of leaving the fund allocation to the free market mechanism.

Abstract: OPTRAD (OPtion TRading ADvisor) is a prototype of a decision support system which helps to deal successfully in stock options and their underlying stocks. OPTRAD is especially designed for all kinds of market participants—for private investors as well as banks and other option dealers—acting at the Frankfurt Securities Exchange. At the present stage of completion OPTRAD integrates the following functions: 1. Automatic market data recording (almost in real-time) via BTX (BildschirmTeXt) communication. 2. Option valuation according to modern option valuation theory. 3. Buy/sell recommendations under consideration of institutional and financial restrictions. 4. Positionkeeping. 5. Daily and monthly portfolio revaluation. The main program of OPTRAD is implemented in the declarative programming language PROLOG while some subroutines are written in the procedural language PASCAL. OPTRAD is running on IBM compatible Personal Computers (PCs) and needs at least 512 KB random access memory.