Japan banks now among world's biggest energy lenders

New York

JAPANESE banks, known for the risk aversion that spared them the worst of the credit crisis, have quietly grown into some of the world's largest energy lenders.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (MUFG), Japan's largest bank, disclosed last month that it had become one of the biggest oil-and-gas lenders with 9.2 trillion yen (S$116 billion or US$86 billion) in exposure - US$45 billion more than it had reported at the end of the year.