1.   Because the crisis was fundamentally a banking sector problem, reforms are needed there, said Donald P. Hanna, senior economist at Goldman Sachs.

2.   He told them that Japan was taking steps to deal with its recession and banking sector problems.

3.   MALAYSIA should concentrate on solving financial sector problems, Japanese Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Finance Yasuhisa Shiozaki said yesterday.

4.   Other sources of downside risks came from lingering financial sector problems in Japan and uncertainty about oil prices, it said.

5.   Second, the Japanese government must put its house in order by tackling financial sector problems head on.

6.   The outflow of funds from those markets and resulting currency depreciations added to their existing banking sector problems including poor asset quality, it said.

7.   But traders slowly grew convinced the central banks meant business, especially when started to grapple with its banking sector problems and moved to rekindle growth.