INTERVIEW: Iyo Bank to Support Shipbuilding Industry Revival

Matsuyama, Ehime Pref., June 22 (Jiji Press)--Iyo Bank, a regional lender in the western Japan prefecture of Ehime, hopes to help revive Japan's shipbuilding industry, its incoming president, Takashi Sagayama, has said.

The Japanese government has designated the shipbuilding industry as one of 17 priority investment areas, in a bid to encourage private-sector investment through tax incentives and other measures.

"We will support optimal investment," Sagayama, now managing director of the bank, said in a recent interview in the Ehime capital of Matsuyama, where Iyo Bank has its head office.

Sagayama, who is set to become president Friday, also revealed the bank's plans to consider joint loans with other financial institutions for large-scale realignments and other projects in the shipbuilding industry while leveraging its accumulated know-how.

In Ehime, shipbuilding firms are concentrated in the city of Imabari and surrounding areas.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]