Japan’s biggest commercial banks have allowed excess funds to languish in negative interest-rate accounts at the Bank of Japan in December at the most since the introduction of the zub0zero policy in 2016
When the policy was first introduced funds flowed elsewhere, a policy intention of the BOJ.
Banks that had been reluctant to hold negative interest-rate balances “seem to be changing their minds because if a policy exit is near, there is no need to forcefully invest funds to eliminate balances,” said Naomi Muguruma, chief fixed-income strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Co.
“Another sign that sub-zero rate policy close to end” says Bloomberg. More here at the link to Bloomberg (may be gated).
BoJ