Japan's smaller banks turn to deal-making as loans business dips

Tokyo

THE grim outlook for Japan's smaller regional banks, which are suffering as Japan's rural population shrinks rapidly, is prompting some to dive into a new, potentially lucrative line of business that until now was largely taboo: mergers and acquisitions.

In Japan's traditional banking culture, advising a client to sell a firm was considered unseemly, even rude - implying that the business had failed.