Aozora Bank, the reincarnation of Nippon Credit Bank, returned to profitability in fiscal 2000 for the first time in three years with group pretax profits of 99.1 billion yen -- a sharp upturn from the 112.6 billion yen loss the previous year.

Shaking off a mountain of debt, the bank posted gains during its five months under state control and seven months under management implemented by an investment consortium that purchased NCB in September and renamed it Aozora.

Regarding nonperforming loans, Aozora booked 89 billion yen in loan-loss charges on a parent-only basis to cover possible losses from the worsened outlook for borrowers. It plans to book 60 billion yen in loan-loss charges for the current fiscal year.