MNI: BOJ FY18 Net Profit Falls To Y586.9 Bln Vs FY17 Y765 Bln

     TOKYO (MNI) - The Bank of Japan said Wednesday its net profit fell to

Y586.9 billion in fiscal 2018 to March 31, down from a profit of Y764.7 billion

in the previous fiscal year, weighed by an increased provision for possible

losses on bonds and foreign exchange transactions.

     In fiscal 2018, gains stemming from holding foreign currency assets totaled

Y225.7 billion, reversing a loss of Y211.9 billion in fiscal 2017, largely due

to the yen's weakness against the dollar.

     At the end of March, dollar-yen stood at Y110.85, up from Y106.27 a year

before, while the euro-yen exchange rate fell to Y124.35 from Y130.95.

     In fiscal 2018, the BOJ increased its bond loss reserves by Y815.4 billion

to insure against losses from holding sizeable amounts of JGBs as the

large-scale monetary easing continued, up from Y445.1 billion a year earlier.

     The BOJ also increased its foreign exchange loss reserves by Y112.8

billion, reversing from withdrawal of Y105.9 billion a year earlier.

     The BOJ also said the return on holding Japanese government bonds in fiscal

2018 was 0.276%, down from 0.279% in fiscal 2017.

     The total assets held by the BOJ at the end of March stood at Y557.02

trillion, up Y28.74 trillion, or 5.4%, from Y528.2 trillion a year before due to

the bank's massive purchases of Japanese government bonds. The outstanding

balance of long-term JGBs held by the BOJ at the end of March totaled Y459.59

trillion, up from Y426.57 trillion a year earlier.

     The BOJ's capital adequacy ratio at the end of March was 8.71%, up from

8.09% a year before.  The bank regards a fluctuation within 2 percentage points

above or below 10% as acceptable.

--MNI Tokyo Bureau; tel: +81 90-2175-0040; email: hiroshi.inoue@marketnews.com

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

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