AS IT RELATES TO BANKS' HEALTH
TOKYO, July 23 - Japan's Financial Services Minister, Hakuo Yanagisawa, said on Monday he is considering various measures including tax steps to revive the ailing stock market and boost investor confidence.
Yanagisawa repeated that he was thinking of tax incentives to lure individual investors and that he would like to raise the profile of the securities watchdog arm of the FSA.
"I would like to report on these measures when bills can be drafted," he told a news conference.
Yanagisawa also said he did not expect bank writeoffs of non-performing loans to have a widespread impact on the economy because the sour loans were concentrated in a few sectors.
Last Thursday, Yanagisawa said a fresh round of inspections by his agency had shown non-performing loans held by Japan's 15 major banks totalled about 18 trillion yen ($146.1 billion). ($1=123.24 Yen)