Norinchukin Bank

Norinchukin Bank

Type	Cooperative bank
Industry	Financial Services
Founded	1923
Headquarters	Tokyo, Japan
Key people	Yoshio Kono, President and CEO Mamoru Moteki, Chairman
Operating income	¥1,270,560 millions (US$7,055 millions)
Total assets	¥70,763.3 billion (US$844.4 billion)
Employees	3,229
Website	nochubank.or.jp

The Norinchukin Bank is a Japanese cooperative bank serving over 5612 agricultural, fishing and forestry cooperatives from its headquarters in Tokyo. Its members include cooperative federations such as the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA) and the Japan Fishery Cooperatives (JF). Norinchukin supports political lobbies who oppose agricultural imports and the deterioration of living standards in rural areas. Norinchukin has 16,000 offices throughout Japan's 47 prefects and assets exceeding ¥32.5 trillion.

History

The Norinchukin Bank was founded on December 20, 1923 by the Japanese government to support the country's agriculture industry. Norinchukin is derived from the Japanese words No - Rin - Chu - Kin (Agriculture, forestry, cooperative, bank). Norinchukin suffered from a lack of investment funds during World War II, due to restrictions by the Japanese government. After the war, Norinchukin played an important role in rebuilding the country. Once the government encouraged divestment in the textile industry, Norinchukin formed a political lobby to support the agriculture sector. In 1979, Norinchukin set up an international department and formed a relationship with the Bank of Japan. Low interest rates in the 1980s impacted Norinchukin's profitability. The Japanese government adjusted the charter of Norinchukin in 1986 and allowed the bank to operate as a commercial bank. Following the recession in 2008, Norinchukin indicated it had ¥9.7 billion in losses related to the subprime mortgage crisis.^[1][2] For the 2009 fiscal year, Norinchukin posted a net income of ¥29.5 billion.

References

1. ^ Norinchukin Bank looks to raise $10.5 billion. New York Times. 27 October 2008.
2. ^ Kondo, Masaki; Raja, Shani. Asian Stocks Drop on Norinchukin Bank, BlueScope Steel Losses. Bloomberg. 22 February 2009.

External links

• Official Website