It was a situation that surprised many in the financial world: A low-key lender for Japanese farmers had somehow become the biggest buyer of a structured product known as collateralized loan obligations.
By 2019, Norinchukin Bank held about $70 billion (¥8 trillion) of the securities, roughly a fifth of the global market for the top-rated category. People were calling it the CLO whale.
Back in Tokyo, tempers were starting to fray. Politicians and regulators were taken aback by how much the bank owned, and started calling it reckless. Nochu, as the lender is known, was hauled before parliament several times, and some of the criticism was fierce.