The is a Japanese

cooperative bank Cooperative banking is retail and commercial banking organized on a cooperative basis. Cooperative banking institutions take deposits and lend money in most parts of the world. Cooperative banking, as discussed here, includes retail banking car ...

serving over 5,612

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

, fishing and forestry

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...

s from its headquarters in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

. The bank is one of Japan's largest

institutional investors An institutional investor is an entity which pools money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial banks, central banks, credit unions, government-link ...

with an investment portfolio of more than US$400 billion and assets exceeding US$840 billion. Through overseas branches located in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

, the bank invests in bond, securitization products, stock, private equity, and real estate. Since huge assets as much as US$840 billion are managed by only around 3,200 employees, the bank is mainly engaged in asset management and large scale corporate financing. Its members include cooperative federations such as the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA) and the Japan Fishery Cooperatives (JF). Norinchukin supports political lobbies who oppose agricultural imports and the deterioration of living standards in rural areas. Norinchukin has 41 offices throughout Japan and five overseas branches.

History

The Norinchukin Bank was founded on December 20, 1923 by the Japanese government to support the country's agriculture industry. Norinchukin is derived from the bank's Japanese name ''Nō - Rin - Chūō - Kinko'' (Agriculture - forestry - central - credit union). Norinchukin suffered from a lack of investment funds during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, due to restrictions by the Japanese government. After the war, Norinchukin played an important role in rebuilding the country. Once the government encouraged divestment in the textile industry, Norinchukin formed a political lobby to support the agriculture sector. In 1979, Norinchukin set up an international department and formed a relationship with the

Bank of Japan The is the central bank of Japan. Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric. (2005). "Nihon Ginkō" in The bank is often called for short. It has its headquarters in Chūō, Tokyo. History Like most modern Japanese institutions, the Bank of Japan was foun ...

. Low interest rates in the 1980s impacted Norinchukin's profitability. The Japanese government adjusted the charter of Norinchukin in 1986 and allowed the bank to operate as a commercial bank. Following the global recession in 2008, Norinchukin indicated it had ¥9.7 billion in losses related to the subprime mortgage crisis. 2] For the 2009 fiscal year, Norinchukin posted a net income of ¥29.5 billion.

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Banks of Japan Cooperative banking in Asia Banks established in 1923 Japanese companies established in 1923 Financial services companies based in Tokyo Japanese brands Cooperatives in Japan