Hence, the return on investment fell to around 5.5 percent in June 2012 from over 6 percent in the previous year, and the return on equity slowed to 12 percent from almost 14.5 percent over the same period. At the end of June 2012, the Statutory Fund for the consolidated life insurance sector was in surplus.
In addition to the above evidence on Japan which I covered in some detail in the 8th R K Talwar Memorial Lecture, my recent joint work with Sascha Steffen and Lea Steinruecke, titled “Kicking the Can Down the Road: Government Interventions in the European Banking Sector,” examined all government interventions in the Eurozone banking sector during the 2007 to 2009 financial crisis.