Takefuji Corp. said Monday it may lose as much as ¥30 billion on derivatives transactions arranged by Merrill Lynch & Co., becoming the first Japanese consumer lender struck by the global credit-market rout.

The nation's third-largest consumer credit company said it may reduce its forecast for a full-year profit of ¥43.3 billion because of the losses. That would be the second reduction in less than a month.

Fallout from the U.S. mortgage market collapse spread to the consumer finance industry for the first time after eroding earnings at the nation's largest banks, brokerages and insurers. Global financial companies may have losses of at least $600 billion related to U.S. subprime mortgages, UBS AG said Friday.

"It's a surprise to learn that a consumer finance company, which can get a high return just by lending money, bothered to invest in such securities," said Fumiyuki Nakanishi, an equity strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. "The fallout from the subprime problem is like a black box."

Takefuji removed ¥30 billion in 20-year bonds, carrying a coupon rate of 4 percent, from its balance sheet through transactions set up last May by Merrill Lynch Japan Securities Co.

Takefuji traded in securities linked to credit-default swap indexes based on U.S. and European companies and AAA-level bonds.