The nation's 135 banks incurred a combined 1.31 trillion yen parent-only pretax loss in the fiscal first half of 2001 due to huge loan-loss charges and appraisal losses on shareholdings, according to the Japanese Bankers Association.
The banks, including Japan's top eight city commercial banks, saw their combined pretax balance sink into the red for the first time in four years in terms of midterm results for an April-September period, the association said.
The mammoth pretax loss marked a turnaround from a profit of 1.14 trillion yen in the corresponding period a year before.