Thursday's listing of Shinsei Bank on the Tokyo Stock Exchange is good news. It is proof of how a failed and nationalized bank can reinvent itself as a going concern through efficient and innovative private management. The downside is that it took trillions of yen in taxpayer money to revive the bank, the former Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan.
The LTCB was placed under government control in October 1998 in a massive public bailout that would cost 7.8 trillion yen. About a year later, after being duly restructured, the bank was sold to a foreign investment group led by Ripplewood Holdings of the United States.
By current estimates, much of the bailout money, perhaps exceeding 4 trillion yen, is likely to be written off as a loss, with taxpayers picking up the tab. The final amount depends on how economic conditions develop in coming years.