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BoJ's Nakaso defends negative rates, says not meant to pinch banks
The Bank of Japan designed its new negative interest rates to avoid hurting bank profits, and the recent drop in bank stocks is "overdone," the BOJ's deputy governor said on Friday in what amounted to a defense of last month's shock policy decision. Hiroshi Nakaso, seeking to explain the move to bankers and investors in New York, said that while a key rate could technically be lowered deeper into negative territory, "my sense is that for now I would like to watch carefully how this new policy is going to work through the economy." The BOJ unexpectedly cut a benchmark interest rate below zero on January 29, a bold ... (full story)