TOKYO (Standard&Poor's) June 19, 2009--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it had revised upward its Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment (BICRA) on Japan (AA/Stable/A-1+) to Group 2 from Group 3. This action primarily reflects Standard&Poor's assessment that over the past five to six years (i.e. since the "lost decade" for Japan's economy, so called because economic growth was more or less flat), structural risks facing the banking industry have moderated to an extent that the Japanese banking industry is likely to reasonably withstand cyclical economic and credit downturns. Structural risks include risks of overinflated asset values, rapid credit growth, leverage levels of large corporates and small to medium enterprises, and overconcentration to single-name exposures.
