NIPPON LIFE AND OTHERS TO BACK ¥300BN REPAYMENT BY BANK

Japanese assurer Nippon Life, along with Norinchkin Bank, Meiji Yasuda Life and others are to jointly assume repayments of public funds worth about ¥300bn on behalf of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, reports Nikkei. Mitsubishi UFJ holds about ¥825bn in public funds, which are kept in the form of preferred shares that are held by Deposit Insurance Co of Japan, a government-backed entity. The companies making the repayment will receive ¥300bn worth of the shares from the public corporation. The bank’s equity will remain unchanged as part of the deal, although ties between Mitsubishi UFJ and the assisting companies. The public funds were put into the now defunct UFJ in 1999 in order to avert a banking crisis.