1.   And it is MOF, as the ministry is known, that has dragged its feet in closing down failed banks and deregulating the financial markets.

2.   Failed banks will either be closed, reorganized or bought by domestic or foreign concerns.

3.   Even if banks have a healthy capital base, they may be required to help bail out failed small banks and thrifts.

4.   Hakuo Yanagisawa, the head of the Financial Services Ministry, has stressed that bids for failed banks would be judged mainly by how much public money they required.

5.   Hashimoto agreed to use public funds to bail out failed Japanese banks and brokerages, saying protecting depositors is the top priority, Nikkei news reported.

6.   In effect, the government agency lets the owners of failed banks off the hook and makes taxpayers pick up the entire tab for reimbursing depositors.

7.   In a television talk show on Sunday, Nonaka questioned the way the commission has been guaranteeing buyers of failed banks against further deterioration in loans.

8.   It will also determine which loans in the failed bank are bad and which are good.

9.   It will essentially be in charge of closing insolvent institutions and appointing new management teams to run the business of the failed banks.

10.   Japanese banks will finance a special pool of funds that will be used to write off bad loans at failed banks.