Corporate bankruptcies were off 7.4 percent in February for the second straight month of decline on a year-on-year basis, but liabilities left by the failed firms jumped 20.6 percent, Teikoku Databank Ltd. said Friday.

The private credit-research agency said there were 1,586 business failures, with combined liabilities of 1.53 trillion yen, the largest amount for a February since World War II.

The number of bankruptcies shows wild fluctuations with the potential to increase, Teikoku Databank said in a monthly report covering failures involving firms with liabilities of 10 million yen or more each.