“Japan's economy expanding moderately thanks in part to BOJ’s aggressive monetary easing,” Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said in a statement on Wednesday.

He said, “it's true Japan’s low-interest-rate environment has had an impact on regional banks through various channels.”

Kuroda said that he cannot accept view BOJ’s easy policy has led to regional banks' deteriorating health.

Meanwhile, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida was reported as saying that “consolidation is among options for regional banks to prop up their business health, but any decision must lead to the revitalization of regional economies.”

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