In fiscal 2009 (year ended March 31, 2010), Aozora Bank Ltd. (BBB+/Stable/A-2) posted a net profit of ¥8.3 billion, swinging back from a net loss of ¥242.6 billion in fiscal 2008 (year ended March 31, 2009). The loss in fiscal 2008 was the bank's first since it was reprivatized in 2000, and it was caused by its reduction of risk assets and disposals of losses based on its policy to withdraw from overseas investments that were seriously affected by the global financial turmoil. Material credit costs, recorded for the first time in the four years through to fiscal 2008, also partly contributed to the net loss in that year. In fiscal 2009, however, credit costs decreased substantially, partly because the
