TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) - The Banks Association of Japan said that total bank bad loans reached 30.02 trln yen at the end of March, a rise of 7.8 pct over the previous year.
Bad loans are defined as including loans to bankrupt or near-bankrupt firms, those whose interest and principal payments are in arrears for more than three months, as well as those whose lending terms have been eased.
Of the total, the association said the nine city banks posted 12.88 trln yen in bad loans, up 7.1 pct from a year before, while the 64 regional banks posted 9.53 trln yen in non-performing loans, up 23.3 pct
The 54 second-tier regional banks saw bad loans of 3.63 trln yen, up 28.1 pct, the eight trust banks 2.71 trln yen, down 17.3 pct, and the last remaining long-term credit bank 1.28 trln yen, down 35.9 pct. The former Long-Term Credit Bank, now Shinsei Bank, is not included in the data.
The association also provided the following overall data for different categories of bad loans:
Bankrupt, near bankrupt firms - 2.84 trln yen, up 1.9 pct
Payment in arrears over 6 mths - 16.76 trln yen, down 2.1 pct
Payment in arrears over 3 mths - 646.84 bln yen, down 24.4 pct
Borrowing terms eased - 9.77 trln yen, up 37.9 pct