Bank of Tokyo and foreign banks

Bank of Tokyo and foreign banks

A final bank to be considered is the Bank of Tokyo. It is called a city bank but it also has been Japan's financial doorway to the world. Until 1945 it held a monopoly in Japan's foreign exchange. It is one of the smaller city banks, and it has 34 branches in Japan but over 50 branches overseas - the most of any Japanese bank.

Foreign banks, especially western banks, were largely kept out of Japan until 1968. Western banks were allowed in after that, but they were restricted to a few branches with limited advertising.

Presently about 80 foreign banks have branches in Japan. They control only about one percent of bank deposits and three percent of loans. About one fourth of these foreign banks lose money in Japan.