In Japan, the WWI "bubble" and the long depression of the 1920s greatly impaired banking management and caused serious problems with bad loans. Financial crises broke out continuously in 1920, 1922, 1923 and 1927. 1927 is often considered a "landmark" year in the sense that the financial crises in that year led to drastic changes in the financial structure, and led to several major bank mergers. Thus, most previous studies of bank regulation have emphasized the importance of The Bank Act of 1927, and insisted that the bank merger policy was at the center of bank regulation, and that all other regulations simply complemented it. Subsequently, many studies of bank policy at that time have focused primarily on bank mergers. Furthermore, some studies conclude that bank regulation at that time was clearly different from bank regulation in the postwar period. However, after carefully analyzing numerous historical documents and materials such as "Showa Zaiseishi Shiryo" (Archives of Showa Financial History), "Saitamaken Chiho Kinnyu Shiryo" (Archives of Saitama Prefectural Financial History) etc., I am suspicious of such one-sided views. We need a more balanced view, considering not only The Bank Act of 1927 but also other laws, official notices and guides. In this article, I analyze twelve kinds of bank regulation: bank chartering, liquidation or reform policy, bank merger policy, branching restriction, dividend restriction, separation of banking and industry, interest rate regulation, MOF's bank inspection, BOJ's bank inspection, auditing, disclosure requirement and LLR. I study not only the framework and philosophy of these bank regulations but also the interaction among them in order to clarify the whole system of bank regulation. In conclusion, there were many kinds of bank regulation in 1920s, including the bank merger policy. The MOF's bank inspection system was especially effective in leading bank management better, and it nicely complemented the other regulations. It is clear that bank regulation at that time functioned not only as structural regulation, but also as prudential regulation.

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