Japan's Banks Still Suffer a Year After BOJ Salvages Yield Curve
- Loan margins falling even as lending grows most in eight years
- Share slump has driven price-to-book ratios toward 0.5
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A year after the Bank of Japan threw a lifeline to Japanese banks by targeting bond yields, lenders are still taking cold comfort from the move.
Last September’s shift arrested a slide in yields and reduced the risk that the central bank may take benchmark interest rates deeper below zero, abating fears that banks’ interest income will tumble. But borrowing costs remain close to record-low levels, making it tough for lenders to profit from the difference between deposit and loan rates.