The president of Ashikaga Bank, a Tochigi-based regional bank, said Tuesday he intends to resign next year to take responsibility for projected heavy losses.
Shin Iizuka would be the first banker to resign over a bank's failure to improve its finances after receiving an injection of taxpayers' money in 1999. His resignation is expected in June.
The bank cannot pay preferred stock dividends for fiscal 2001, Iizuka told a news conference.