Nippon Credit Bank and Bankers Trust New York Corp. announced April 10 their intention to forge a business tieup that would transfer NCB's overseas business to the U.S. bank and initiate a cross-shareholding arrangement between the two firms. The contract for the tieup, expected to be formally signed later this month, will be the first such alliance between a Japanese and a U.S. bank.
The two banks said the move was an effort to meet the challenges posed by the upcoming "Big Bang" financial deregulation in Japan.
Under the terms of the agreement, Bankers Trust would be entrusted with NCB's overseas business, and the two banks would jointly undertake such transactions as securitization of real estate and other assets. The brokering and asset-managing technology of the Bankers Trust Group would be used to jointly develop financial products, the banks said in a joint statement. The two banks also said they were considering mutual capital participation once NCB's current efforts to set its books in order are completed.