BIS Review 57/2003  3  Major banks improved stability of their profitability by reducing their shareholdings, which had been blamed for large fluctuations in profits. In fact, banks’ shareholdings had decreased to levels well below Tier 1 capital at the end of September. To strengthen profitability, major banks made efforts in cutting costs and increasing fee incomes.
These efforts have gradually begun to be reflected in their financial results. Moving on to conditions surrounding regional financial institutions, let me first touch on the recent case of Ashikaga Bank. Last month, Ashikaga Bank informed the government that it had negative net worth at the end of September, and that there was a risk of suspending repayment of deposits.