The government's Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) measures to be implemented from April 1998 require financial institutions to conduct adequate assessment of their assets and to calculate appropriate "loan-loss write-offs and provisions" based on their own internal rules and referring to...

Operating profits of Japanese banks in fiscal 1997 amounted to 5.4 trillion yen, down by 14 percent from the previous fiscal year. This decrease was primarily due to the following factors: (1) the disappearance of a temporary increase in trust fees (income) of trust banks in fiscal 1996; (2) the...