Japanese Banks Facing Lowered Credit Ratings; Stock Dive Cited
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NEW YORK — A handful of major Japanese banks may face a downgrading in their credit ratings after the recent dramatic fall in the Tokyo stock market and amid pressure to improve their profitability, an international credit rating agency said today.
Among the banks put on “rating watch” by the ratings agency IBCA are the so-called Big Five city banks--Dai-Ichi Kangyo, Fuji, Mitsubishi, Sanwa and Sumitomo--and the Industrial Bank of Japan.
These institutions now carry a AAA rating, the highest credit rating available.
But IBCA noted that their results in recent years “have been increasingly dominated by the stock market,” which has declined sharply this year.
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