8 November 2001, 08:42  Yanagisawa sees no immediate fund injection for banks, except in crisis

TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) - Minister of Financial Affairs Hakuo Yanagisawa said he believes there is no chance of an immediate capital infusion into banks as a result of their disposal of bad loans, except in a financial crisis. "Banks' losses on bad-loan write-offs will be covered first by operating profit," he told a parliamentary committee. "Even if the losses affect their capital base, their financial health will be examined under the existing regulatory early-warning programme so a market infusion will not immediately take place," he said. "In the case of a financial crisis ... we will not hesitate to take appropriate action, including the possibility of a capital infusion into banks," Yanagisawa added. "We are making efforts to deal with banks' bad-loan problems, keeping in mind that banks' bad-loan ratio should be cut to below 4.0 pct three years after the start of the government write-off programme," he said. A Financial Services Agency senior official told the committee that an agency assessment published in May shows the nine major city banks may post stock losses of 4 trln yen in a period of six months and 14 trln over a year.

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