Regaining confidence in the nation's banking sector is a prerequisite for promoting wider use of the yen in international markets, a Finance Ministry advisory group agreed Thursday.

Members of a subcommittee for globalization of the yen, recently formed under the Committee on Foreign Exchange and Other Transactions, reached the consensus at its second gathering, said panel head Takatoshi Ito, a professor at Hitotsubashi University.

It is difficult to make the yen more popular internationally when market confidence in Japanese banks remains weak because of their massive bad loans, Ito said at a news conference. At its next meeting in September, the subcommittee plans to start discussing specific measures to promote the yen's use in international settlements and asset management. Members hope to issue a report by next spring.