The Cabinet on March 17 approved a 1.42 trillion yen injection of public funds into 17 major banks ahead of the March 31 end of the fiscal year.

The injection, in the form of either subordinated loans or subordinated bonds to be made or bought by Deposit Insurance Corp. through the Resolution and Collection Bank, is aimed at boosting the financial firms' capital bases before they close their books.

Banks placed on the list include industry leader Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi as well as the Industrial Bank of Japan, five trust banks and three regional banks.

Cabinet approval for similar capital injections into four other banks -- Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, Nippon Credit Bank and Chuo Trust & Banking Co. -- was given March 13.

In all, roughly 1.8 trillion yen in public money will be used to shore up the capital of the nation's key banks in an effort to ease concerns over the banking sector and help nudge banks away from their cautious lending stance.