BOJ cornered as Japanese banks are running out of bonds to sell

Tokyo

JAPAN's biggest banks are running out of room to sell their government bond holdings, pushing the central bank closer to the limits of its record monetary easing.

Japan Post Bank Co and the nation's three so-called megabanks have almost halved their sovereign bond holdings to 114 trillion yen (S$1.47 trillion) since March 2013, a month before the Bank of Japan (BOJ) began buying the securities on an unprecedented scale to end deflation. Government notes held by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) Inc, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc and Mizuho Financial Group Inc are approaching the level where further reductions would involve securities they need as collateral.