Closure of Overseas Offices

RNS Number:9283O
Asahi Bank Ltd
19 December 2001


The Asahi Bank, Ltd
1-2 Otemachi 1-chome, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo 100-8106, Japan

December 18, 2001

FSA Approval of Closure of Overseas Offices

The Asahi Bank, Ltd (President: Yukio Yanase)(the "Bank") hereby gives notice 
that the Financial Services Agency of Japan has approved closure of all of the 
Bank's overseas offices today.

The Bank announced that it would close all of its overseas offices (including 
overseas branch offices and overseas subsidiaries) by September, 2002 in its 
initial plan announced in May, 2001.  However, as announced in the management 
reforms to be implemented by the Bank under the "180 Days of Reform," the Bank 
has decided to implement the closure of the overseas offices ahead of the 
schedule as one of the measures to drastically improve efficiency of its asset 
portfolio, and has obtained approval from the Financial Services Agency for 
closure of all of its overseas offices today.

The Bank plans to discontinue dealings with its customers at the overseas 
branches by the end of December, 2001, and to reduce the assets of the overseas 
branches to zero by the end of March, 2002.

With respect to Asahi Bank of California, the Bank is currently at the final 
stage of negotiation and procedure for its sale, and its sale is scheduled to be
completed by the end of February, 2002.

As a result, all of the Bank's overseas branch offices and overseas subsidiaries
will be effectively closed within this fiscal year, and accordingly, the capital
adequacy ratio which the Bank will be required to maintain in respect of 
settlement of its accounts for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2002 will be 
that for banks without international operations, instead of the current ratio 
required for banks with international operations.

However, even though the Bank will be required only to maintain the capital 
adequacy ratio required for banks without international operations, it is 
expected that the Bank will maintain a capital adequacy ratio of more than 9%, 
which is over the ratio required for banks with international operations.

As a result of the foregoing, the Bank will be able to further concentrate its 
management resources on retail banking businesses focused on local communities, 
in line with the business objective which the Bank has been pursuing.

At the same time, even if economic environment materially  worsens, the Bank 
will be able to maintain management power sufficient to contribute to local 
finance needs, because the Bank will no longer subject to the capital adequacy 
requirement applicable to banks with international operations.

The Bank will establish a "super regional bank" through the management 
consolidation with the Daiwa Bank Group, which will have a business model 
different from that of "mega banks."  Through enhancement in financial services 
serving local communities, the Bank will aim at establishing a new financial 
group which will have a strong franchise and will be able to provide its retail 
customers with services of the highest quality.


(Reference)

                           March 31, 2001      September 30, 2001 March 31, 2002

Overseas branches
(Number of branches)       New York, London,   New York, London,
                           Hong Kong,Shanghai  Hong Kong,Shanghai
                           Seoul, Singapore,   Seoul, Singapore,
                           Labuan, Sidney (8)  Labuan, Sidney (8)        (0)

Overseas subsidiaries
(Number of subsidiaries)   Asahi Finance       Asahi Finance       Asahi Finance
                           (Cayman),           (Cayman),           (Cayman)*
                           Asahi Bank of       Asahi Bank of 
                           California (2)      California  (2)            (1)

Assets                     Y1,664.7 billion    Y1,146.9 billion            0

*  Only Asahi Finance (Cayman), which is a financing company for the Bank, will 
   remain as an overseas subsidiary of the Bank.

This press release may contain important information, as set forth in Article 
166 of the Japanese Securities and Exchange Law, concerning the business of the 
Bank.  In case that a person who receives such information by viewing this web 
site conducts any sale, purchase or other certain securities or instruments 
issued by the Bank, until 12 hours pass from the time when such information was 
disclosed to the designated media, such conducts may be deemed to be a violation
of the Law.
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