Japanese total bank loan growth slowed to 2.4% YoY in April, down from 2.8% YoY in March and below expectations of a 2.8% YoY increase.

• Bank lending at major banks slowed significantly to 1.3% YoY, down from 2.4% YoY.
• Total loan growth of foreign banks jumped to 21.0% YoY, up significantly from 9.4% YoY.
• Total deposit growth in April was 0.7% YoY, down from 0.9% YoY with city bank deposit growth down to just 0.3% YoY from 1.0% YoY.