Norinchukin Bank to Sell $63 Billion of Sovereign Bonds
- Japanese agriculture bank plans to unload bonds by March
- Lender nows sees losses tripling from previous forecast
The lender expects to report a net loss of 1.5 trillion yen for the fiscal year ending in March.
Photographer: Noriko Hayashi/BloombergNorinchukin Bank plans to sell roughly 10 trillion yen ($63 billion) in US and European sovereign bonds to stem losses from wrong-way bets on interest rates, according to a spokesperson for the Japanese agriculture bank.
The bond sales, amounting to almost a sixth of the bank’s global portfolio, will take place by the end of March, the bank said. The lender now expects to report a net loss of 1.5 trillion yen for the current fiscal year, triple the previous estimate of 500 billion yen, the spokesperson said, confirming an earlier Nikkei report. The final loss amount may change, depending on how much the bank can sell and market conditions, the spokesperson said.