March 3 (Bloomberg) -- There are ``enormous opportunities'' in targeting Japanese individual investors as new government regulations encourage the country's households to diversify their investments, the World Bank Treasurer Graeme Wheeler said.

A 10 million yen ($95,347) limit on bank deposit guarantees the government will set on April 1, and a Dec. 1, 2004 regulation enabling commercial banks to sell securities may increase demand for uridashi bonds, Wheeler said.

``Not only are investors looking to diversify in terms of the market risks they have, but also the credit risks they want to take,'' Wheeler said in a March 2 interview. ``It looks very promising and we're in for the long haul,'' said Washington-based Wheeler, who was in Tokyo to meet securities firms.

Sales of so-called uridashis, fixed-income securities issued in currencies other than yen and available to Japanese individuals, and other bonds bought by investors in Japan, account for more than a fifth of the World Bank's annual debt sales of between $12 billion and $15 billion, he said.

The uridashi market totaled $23.4 billion in the past 11 months, according to Bloomberg data, with the World Bank issuing between $5.5 billion and $5.8 billion of that amount. The lender sells debt in currencies including U.S. and Australian dollars, euros and the South African rand.

Japan's household sector holds more than half of its financial assets in cash, which is higher than in other industrialized countries, according to government statistics.

`Enormous Cash Base'

``Longer term there are terrific possibilities'' in the uridashi market, he said. ``Look at that enormous household cash base and very limited currency diversification,'' said Wheeler, who was appointed treasurer and vice-president of the bank in 2001.

The Washington-based lender has the top AAA ratings from Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings. The lender has held onto its AAA rating since 1959, according to its Web site.

The World Bank plans to sell about $15 billion in debt in 2005, the higher end of their recent annual sales of between $12 billion and $15 billion, Wheeler said. The amount has been pushed up because of the falling value of the U.S. dollar, he said.

``What's happened is that as the dollar has depreciated it's increased the amounts we need to borrow,'' he said. The U.S. currency declined 34 percent against the euro from 2001-2004.

The World Bank, founded in 1944 and backed by donations from its 184 member countries as well as proceeds from its own bond sales, lends mainly to poor-country governments.

Last Updated: March 3, 2005 01:14 EST