Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka voiced concern Friday about imposing excessive restrictions on banks asking for public funds.Sufficient information disclosure and clarification of management responsibility should be preconditions for infusions of public funds, the chief government spokesman told a morning news conference.When conditions are too strict, however, banks might hesitate to solicit public funds and instead will continue to squeeze lending to shore up their capital base, he said. "As a result of this, we might end up with more bankruptcies and more unemployment," Nonaka said.Pointing to the continuing credit crunch despite a series of government measures to ease the situation, Nonaka meanwhile criticized banks for engaging in "vicious conduct."As part of efforts to ensure smooth capital flow from commercial banks, the government has reinforced the public credit guarantee system, he said."In some cases, however, when a company goes to a bank with the public guarantee for 90 million yen in loans, the bank lends only 30 million yen and uses the remaining 60 million yen worth of the guarantee to cover loans of the past," he said. "I am boiling over with anger over such vicious conduct by banks and their lack of morals."
