The 15 Japanese banks that received injections of public funds increased their lending to small and midsize firms by a total of 4.25 trillion yen in fiscal 1999, exceeding the 2.99 trillion yen increase previously pledged, the Financial Reconstruction Commission said Thursday.
The banks received 7.46 trillion yen in public funds from the government in March 1999. At the time, they promised to increase loans to small and midsize firms as a condition of receiving the injections of funds due to public criticism that the banking industry was tightening credit and prompting bankruptcies among such businesses.
According to the FRC, all but three of the 15 met their announced targets. The banks' total outstanding loans to small and midsize companies at the end of fiscal 1999 stood at 115.92 trillion yen, up 2.99 trillion yen from the previous year.