The role of the Development Bank of Japan in seeing the country through its export crisis is mired in confusion as it is caught between its public past and private future. However, the state-owned Japan Bank for International Co-operation is having no such problems in bailing out the overseas operations of Japanese exporters. Writer Charles Smith in Tokyo
Japan’s banks continue to make steady progress back to health, and many would argue that the big banks are already there. With an aggregate pre-tax profit of $51.3bn, the Japanese banking sector has surpassed last year’s $32.4bn, and left 2003’s pre-tax losses of $39.3bn a distant memory.