Both groups are traditional NCB clients. Japanese financial policymakers naturally remain publicly upbeat about NCB and other big banks. As they have for some time, officials imply that the financial sector's remaining problems are concentrated among smaller banking institutions, such as regional and cooperative banks, and within the ranks of insurers. In fact, small lenders are the target of most supervisory action right now. Unless the target institutions fail, the identity of such banks generally is not revealed.
Insurers also continue to restructure, either voluntarily or under duress.
Not until 2003, however, will the three form a holding company. Appearances aside, the windup, at least for the moment, of the NCB mess and the moves to address the well-publicized problems of smaller lenders and insurance companies do not mean that resolution of Japan's financial crisis now just requires what amounts to a cleanup operation of a few pockets where weak balance sheets persist. Only 10 days after NCB passed into private hands, the International Monetary Fund provided a reminder that the financial footing of Japan's biggest banks still is precarious. The IMF analysis was in the form of an appendix to its annual international capital markets report and was limited to 17 large banks. IMF researchers focused on Japanese banks reputed, based on conventional wisdom, to be the healthiest, not to mention the most important internationally.