Japan’s banks open lending taps

Relatively untroubled by sub-prime losses and well-endowed with deposits, Japan’s banks are still enthusiastic lenders. But the bulk of their advances are still domestic – sometimes to potentially shaky borrowers. Will they expand further in lending in international markets? Chris Wright reports.

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Back to the 80s? Japanese banks top loan arrangers
Top 15 global bookrunners syndicated loans, Jan 1 to May 19 2009
Rank Bookrunner Value $mln No. deals % share
1 Mizuho 46,487.2 237 8.43
2 JPMorgan 43,660.9 114 7.92
3 Bank of America Merrill Lynch 42,160.0 183 7.65
4 Citi 36,389.5 60 6.6
5 Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp 34,383.2 258 6.24
6 Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group 30,366.4 301 5.51
7 BNP Paribas 19,955.5 64 3.62
8 Barclays Capital 15,132.9 42 2.75
9 Calyon 14,745.9 50 2.68
10 RBS 14,602.0 52 2.65
11 Wells –Wachovia Securities 12,292.9 103 2.23
12 SBI Capital Markets 11,300.4 14 2.05
13 SG Corporate & Investment Banking 10,202.8 34 1.85
14 Deutsche Bank 9,331.3 22 1.69
15 UBS 9,237.3 8 1.68
Subtotal 350,248.0 1,243 63.54
Total 551,209.7 1,812 100
Source: Dealogic

LEAGUE TABLES HAVE not looked like this since the 1980s. Rankings for global loan arrangers in the first quarter of 2009, compiled by Dealogic, show three Japanese banks in the top five worldwide – with Mizuho at the top.

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