Aozora Bank..."Aozora Bank Ltd., a midsize Japanese bank, said Tuesday it has up to 12.4 billion yen ($137 million) in indirect exposure to the massive Ponzi scheme run by Wall Street money manager Bernard Madoff...the development represents an unneeded distraction for the struggling lender, whose top shareholder is U.S. private-equity fund Cerberus Capital Management."
US GSE's..."Japan's private-sector financial institutions held slightly more than 10 trillion yen ($95 billion) in debt securities issued by U.S. mortgage lenders such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as of the end of the fiscal year in March."
Japan major banks' seen having $3B in Lehman debt..."The worst hit among the major banks in Japan was Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group with 103.4 billion yen (US$990 million) in exposure to Lehman, mostly in loans, according to Shinichi Ina at Credit Suisse in Tokyo. Such exposure at regional Japanese banks is estimated at about 66 billion yen (US$632 million), with 39 of the 87 listed regional banks having some kind of exposure to the Lehman group, Ina said, using information he had obtained from the banks."
Japan's banks count cost of US sub-prime crisis..."Japan's megabanks are this week counting the cost of the US sub-prime crisis, with annual earnings reports showing combined losses for the last financial year edging towards ¥1 trillion (£4.9bn)."
Relative to other non-US banking sectors, Japan's banks appear to have avoided exceptional losses so far.
Japan Real Time Charts and Data
Edward Hugh is only able to update this blog from time to time, but he does run a lively Twitter account with plenty of Japan related comment. He also maintains a collection of constantly updated Japan data charts with short updates on a Storify dedicated page Is Japan Once More Back in Deflation?
