Departures of bankers in Tokyo flag retreat of foreign lenders

Tokyo

DEPARTURES of Tokyo-based loan executives from Citigroup Inc and General Electric Capital Corp highlight the retreat of foreign banks from Japan's lending market.

Nobuhiko Ito, head of acquisition finance and syndicated lending at Citigroup in the capital, and Masahiko Horiba, an executive director in GE Capital's structured finance unit, both said last month that they are stepping down. Outstanding loans by foreign banks dropped to a record low 1.846 trillion yen (S$21.1 billion) in November as borrowing costs slump, Bank of Japan data going back to 1995 show.