Japanese ruling-party lawmakers are looking to make it easier for banks to expand into different industries, a step that could help traditional lenders push back against tech rivals.

The Liberal Democratic Party’s financial policy research panel wants to amend the banking law next year to relax limits on lenders’ lines of business as well as their investments in non-financial firms.

The proposal, released last week, didn’t specify which areas banks might be allowed to enter. Japan’s government has been trying to improve financial services by giving tech firms and other outsiders a bigger role in the industry.

Now some politicians see a need to boost lenders, which have been suffering from years of rock-bottom interest rates and are busy supporting businesses and households hurt by the coronavirus-fueled recession.

“We are no longer in an era where we need to straitjacket banks with regulation,” Seiji Kihara, deputy chairman of the LDP’s Policy Research Council who is leading the proposal, said in an interview. “You can’t support regional economies only through fintech.”

Money transfers are one area where Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s administration has eased restrictions for tech companies that are getting into finance. Another is open banking, which allows fintech startups to tap bank customers’ information with their consent to run things like personal finance apps.

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