MUFG taps math expert as CEO to lead digital transformation amid Japan's negative rates
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. named Hironori Kamezawa as chief executive officer on Friday, turning to a math expert to help Japan's biggest bank forge a path in the digital era. Kamezawa, 58, will take the top post on April 1, the Tokyo-based bank said ...
Deepening negative rates would do more harm than good, says Bank of Japan ex-deputy
The Bank of Japan has nearly exhausted its policy ammunition for boosting the economy, as deepening negative interest rates — seen as the most likely step if it were to expand stimulus — will do more harm than good, former BOJ Deputy Gov. Toshiro ...
Daiwa to expand REIT business as low rates persist
Daiwa Securities Group Inc. is expanding its real estate investment trust business as low interest rates continue to drive investors into domestic property funds. Japan's second-biggest brokerage is preparing to start a new private-placement REIT and considering having existing trusts issue new shares to raise ...
Bank of Japan debated monetary and fiscal policy mix as risks from ultralow rates grow
A few Bank of Japan board members said the central bank must work carefully with the government in dealing with the next economic downturn, minutes of the BOJ's October rate review showed Tuesday. The nine-member board also debated the demerits of prolonged monetary easing, with ...
Sweden's central bank ended five years of negative interest rates on Thursday when it raised benchmark borrowing costs by a quarter point to zero, defying an economic slowdown and global uncertainty. The increase from minus 0.25 percent makes the Riksbank the first of the central ...
'Japanification' — The scourge threatening to go global in 2020
First it was Japan. Then Europe. Now investors are scanning the world for the next outbreak of stagnant inflation and tumbling yields. The malaise of "Japanification" burst into the mainstream this year, leaving in its wake a record amount of negative-yielding debt. Quantitative easing and ...
BOJ policymaker calls on banks to downsize for profitability
A Bank of Japan Policy Board member urged banks Thursday to downsize in number and asset holdings to become more profitable, pointing to structural factors, rather than the BOJ's easing policy, as being behind the deterioration in their profitability. In a speech to business leaders ...
Kuroda talks up shift to fiscal firepower as BOJ reaches its limits
Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda's role as the prime focus for efforts to revive the world's third-largest economy is coming to an end. An unprecedented level of concern about damaging side effects of Japan's multidecade experiment with ultralow interest rates has gripped policymakers, regulators ...
Kuroda says Bank of Japan's extra easing won't be limited to interest rate cuts
Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda said Tuesday additional monetary easing by the central bank will not be limited to cutting interest rates, while adding that the economy is likely to stay firm despite the recent consumption tax hike. The BOJ last week said it ...
The world's most powerful policymakers are struggling to alleviate the pain of a slowing global economy with few levers left to pull and growing concern that one of them, negative interest rates, already is creating problems of its own. In an ideal world, elected officials ...
If it needs to ease monetary policy, the Bank of Japan will ‘certainly’ reduce short- to medium-term interest rates, Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda says.
Free bank accounts may become a thing of the past in Japan
Japan's long-suffering savers have put up with virtually zero interest for years, but at least their bank accounts have remained free. That may now change, as speculation mounts over the possible use of further monetary stimulus. Lenders could begin imposing maintenance fees for retail deposit account ...
