Japanese ECAs to be Restructured

(Japan Times, Tokyo, 30 November 2006) Under a plan announced on November 29, 2005, two of Japan's eight government-controlled financial institutions would be privatized, one dissolved and the remaining five consolidated into one new organization. The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) will be merged with four other institutions, with the ODA part of its operations likely to be merged with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and its ECA functions likely to be absorbed by a new organization together with several functions from other financial institutions. It is not clear what will happen to NEXI in this restructuring.