TOKYO (Reuters) - The Bank of Japan is estimated to spend up to 50 billion yen ($478 million) under a new scheme aimed at incentivising regional banks to consolidate, a senior central bank official said on Tuesday.
If all regional lenders with accounts at the BOJ were to meet requirements to apply for the scheme, the BOJ will likely pay around 40-50 billion yen to these lenders, BOJ Executive Director Kimihiro Etoh told parliament.
The BOJ unveiled earlier this month a scheme under which it pays 0.1% interest to regional lenders that cut costs, boost profits or consolidate.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Chris Gallagher)
