Japan Banks, Brokers Actively Used Fed`s Emergency Programs

Washington, Dec. 1 (Jiji Press)--Major Japanese financial
institutions actively used the U.S. Federal Reserve's emergency lending
facilities introduced to help overcome the latest global financial crisis,
Fed data showed Wednesday.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. <8306> used the U.S. central
bank's Term Auction Facility at least 55 times between December 2007 and
February 2010, with the amount of borrowings per auction ranging from 50
million dollars to 1.23 billion dollars, according to the data on more than
21,000 individual credit and other transactions to stabilize markets during
the crisis.
Mizuho Corporate Bank, the wholesale banking arm of Mizuho
Financial Group Inc. <8411>, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., the core
unit of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. <8316>, also tapped the
facility with similar frequency.
Meanwhile, Mizuho Securities USA Inc., a unit of Mizuho Securities
Co. <8606>, took out loans from the Fed under the Primary Dealer Credit
Facility 108 times between July 2008 and February 2009.
In particular, the company procured as much as 2,226 million
dollars on Oct. 29, 2008, shortly after the collapse of U.S. investment bank
Lehman Brothers in mid-September that year.
Daiwa Capital Markets America Inc., a unit of Daiwa Securities
Group Inc. <8601>, borrowed 440 million dollars under the facility in
September 2008.
The financial turbulence, which deepened after the Lehman collapse,
also affected nonfinancial companies' fundraising activities, the Fed data
showed.
Affiliates of leading Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. <7203>
and trading house Mitsui & Co. <8031> procured funds from the Fed using its
facility to purchase commercial paper.
The Bank of Japan used the Fed's dollar liquidity swap program with
foreign central banks 35 times. Using the funds, the Japanese central bank
supplied dollar liquidity to the Japanese banking system to calm the
financial crisis.
END