Yakuza the big winners in Japan's credit crisis

If only Japanese bureaucrats had an economic equivalent of medicine's Hippocratic Oath, something like: Don't harm an economy already plagued with limitations.

Massive debt, near-zero interest rates, dismal demographics, impending US recession - you name it, Japan's got it.

Sadly, there's no such vow in Tokyo, where economists are buzzing about yet another bureaucrat-induced recession. Nicholas Smith is among those fearing the worst from the halls of Japanese power.

''Bureaucratic bungling is causing a credit crunch,'' says Smith, Tokyo-based director of equity sales at HSBC Holdings. ''Banks are cutting off funds to construction and real estate. The result is that bankruptcies are ballooning in those areas. That's causing a vicious circle as property prices fall.''

One example of that bungling involves consumer finance companies and, tangentially, the yakuza.

Japan's main banks traditionally focused on their largest corporate customers. That made it hard for small businesses and consumers to access credit, pushing them toward finance outfits that charged interest in the vicinity of 30%.

Bureaucrats finally cracked down on the industry in 2006, imposing a 20% ceiling on interest rates after a court tossed out contract terms as extortionate. Trouble is, uncertainty reigned as the change was clumsily imposed.

LNK

The final bailout... not the government... but the private sector... I think I wanna buy a % of Yakuza...

Hello Yakuza...

Hello Yakuza...

Do you read me..?

Over..!

Yakuza the big winners in Japan's credit crisis Muttley

Poor bastards, they don't know what they just got themselves into...

Twisted Evil

Yakuza the big winners in Japan's credit crisis

Yakuza the big winners in Japan's credit crisis

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