Ashikaga Financial Group Inc. said Wednesday the Tokyo District Court has approved the start of reconstruction procedures for the financial holding company under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law.
The court named lawyer Tadashi Shimizu a bankruptcy administrator for the financial holding firm, the company said.
Ashikaga Financial, which had controlled Ashikaga Bank until the regional lender was nationalized Dec. 1, applied for court protection from creditors Dec. 25.
Ashikaga Financial decided to apply for bankruptcy protection as it found it hard to operate normally without Ashikaga Bank, its core unit. Ashikaga Financial's liabilities stood at 1.6 billion yen as of Sept. 30.
Ashikaga Bank, based in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, was placed under government control after it was found insolvent with a negative net worth of 102.3 billion yen as of Sept. 30.