A final decision on whether two banks must take responsibility and face legal action for introducing clients to seven failed mortgage lenders will be made next month, the head of a loan reclaiming body said Thursday.

Kohei Nakabo, president of the Housing Loan Administration Corp., told a regular news conference that there is a great gap between the position taken by his firm, which was set up to manage the loans left by seven failed "jusen" housing loan companies, and that of the banks.

Many banks that played a pivotal role in setting up the jusen firms introduced potential borrowers to them, and a considerable number of the loans went sour.

Nakabo's firm is currently negotiating with the banks on ways in which responsibility can be taken, and the administration company has said that in some instances, legal action may be taken.

The collapse of the jusen firms led to a liquidation scheme that resulted in the use of 685 billion yen in public funds.

Meanwhile, Housing Loan Administration announced the same day that it was expected by the end of May to have reclaimed 1.03 trillion yen in jusen loans since its establishment in July 1996.