The Bank of Japan continues to push the boundaries of monetary policy.
It surprised markets on Friday by joining the less-than-zero club of economies that have embraced a policy of negative interest rates, requiring financial institutions to pay the central bank to park some of their cash beyond required reserve levels.
Once considered unthinkable among central bankers, the pay-to-save strategy has now been adopted in Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, and by the European Central Bank, in a bid to get banks lending and companies spending.