Tokyo, January 10th 2013 - Aozora Bank Ltd. (President and CEO Shinsuke Baba, Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo) today announced a business alliance between group company, Aozora Loan Services Co., Ltd. and Tokyo Tomin Bank Ltd. (President Akihiro Kakizaki, Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo) for the provision of business recovery support for their customers including the joint establishment of a business recovery fund.

With the Act Concerning Measures to Facilitate Financing to SMEs scheduled to expire, this tie-up matches the needs of Tokyo Tomin Bank, which wishes to improve its support to customers, and the needs of Aozora Bank Group, which contributes to the invigoration of the regional economy through business alliances with regional financial institutions.

The Aozora Bank Group expects that this business alliance with Tokyo Tomin Bank, which is based in Tokyo, the political and economic core of Japan, and which is an urban-type regional bank with a wide and close network of SME customers, will lead to an accumulation of expertise and a variety of business recovery practices.

Going forward, the Aozora Bank Group wishes to further promote its ties with regional financial institutions in each region.

Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker