Financial Reconstruction Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa said Tuesday he hopes the nation's 18 major banks will clarify their positions about capital injections when they announce their midterm results later this week and early next week.
The minister also added that he was pleased to learn Sumitomo Bank intends to apply for public money and prepare "adequate" restructuring plans.
Yanagisawa's remarks came in response to media reports Sunday that Sumitomo, one of the nation's leading banks, had decided to apply for up to 500 billion yen in public funds to boost its capital base.
He said he particularly welcomes the bank's thoughts on increasing the rate of loss reserves for potentially sour loans and carrying out radical restructuring such as closing many of its overseas branches.
But he was careful to avoid discussing the amount of capital injection and repeated his general request for banks to apply for a large amount.