Resona Holdings Inc. said Thursday it will repay ¥400 billion in public funds to the government at the end of this month, reducing the outstanding balance of its debt to ¥1.67 trillion.
It will be the first time the bank returns public funds injected to replenish the capital of Resona Bank in 2003, when it was in the midst of a serious business crisis.
"We were able to reach the first step in repaying public funds," Resona Holdings Chairman Eiji Hosoya said in a statement. "We will continue to accelerate management reforms to secure financial resources for repayment."
The government also injected public funds into Daiwa Bank Holdings Inc., the precursor of Resona Holdings, and Asahi Bank, which joined Daiwa in 2002, three times between 1998 and 2001, with the total amount of injected funds standing at ¥3.13 trillion as of the end of September 2003.
Resona Holdings has been returning funds injected before 2003, while institutions such as Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co. have bought some of the government-held common shares in the bank holding company to help accelerate repayment.
The upcoming repayment would lower the government's voting stake in Resona Holdings to 63.7 percent from 67.3 percent.