Japanese banks shed 529 billion yen in subprime losses

Beijing News.Net
Thursday 31st January, 2008

Japan's biggest banks have shocked the country by quadrupling the losses they suffered as a result of the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis.

Losses to the end of December now total JPY 529.1 billion, 4.6 times the JPY 115 billion they reported for the September quarter.

The banks, in their December 31 quarterly reports said the losses could grow, by as much as another 100 billion yen.

The country's six major banking groups were so badly affected by the crisis that all reported markedly lower profits for the nine months to December 31.

The banks' combined net profit tumbled 44.2% to JPY 1.339 trillion.

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