TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s Norinchukin Bank on Wednesday reported net profit of 26 billion yen ($167 million) for July-September, compared with a 481 billion yen loss over the same period a year earlier.
The result marked a second consecutive quarter in the black as the bank recovers from an annual loss of $12.63 billion in the year ended March brought about by huge realised loss in foreign sovereign bonds.
The bank, which still had 1.14 trillion of unrealised loss in its bond portfolio at September-end, stuck to its full-year profit forecast of 30 billion to 70 billion yen.
Norinchukin is the primary financial institution for farm, forestry and fishery cooperatives. It earns most of its money through returns from securities investment rather than lending.
Its holding of U.S. and European sovereign bonds crashed in value when interest rates rose from 2022 and stayed higher for longer than it anticipated.
The bank has said it will use bond sale proceeds for new investment, including in Japanese government bonds, equities, real estate, private equity and infrastructure.
($1 = 155.3700 yen)
(Reporting by Anton Bridge; Editing by Tom Hogue and Christopher Cushing)
