Financial Services Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa blasted several regional financial institutions Friday for asking the government to keep the full guarantee on current deposits beyond its planned termination date of April 1, 2003.
Limiting refunds to 10 million yen per depositor in the event of a bank failure under the official deposit insurance system "is a matter of course," Yanagisawa said. "It is important for those financial institutions to develop the capability to withstand the abolition of the official full-deposit protection and secure the confidence of depositors."
Yanagisawa's remarks followed a string of appeals from the chiefs of regional bank associations and local financial institutions whose members are reeling from flights of deposits following the abolition of the full protection of time deposits on April 1.