AssKissinger wrote:They didn't actually kill or even hurt her though. Just constant harassment. Does anybody know of the most extreme measures they've taken to retrieve unpaid loans? My impression is the Japanese Yakuza would get laughed out of town in the states.

cstaylor wrote:

AssKissinger wrote:They didn't actually kill or even hurt her though. Just constant harassment. Does anybody know of the most extreme measures they've taken to retrieve unpaid loans? My impression is the Japanese Yakuza would get laughed out of town in the states.

AssKissinger wrote:BTW, I don't like this emoticon it hurts my feelings.

A corps of GE Capital business development people had been on the ground in Japan and were ready with acquisition recommendations in 1998 and early 1999 — when the time came for big moves. The acquisitions of Koei Credit and the consumer finance business of Lake Corporation quickly raised our ability to provide innovative financial services to the Japanese consumer.

1998
Associates First Capital expands international operations in the first quarter through three major acquisitions...In Japan, the acquisition of DIC Finance, the country's ninth-largest consumer finance company, expands Japan operations by 201 offices

2000
On November 30, The Associates is acquired by Citigroup Inc

Citigroup has had a difficult year on the regulatory front. It recently agreed to pay $215 million to settle charges that Associates First Capital manipulated customers into buying overpriced mortgages and credit insurance.

Japan - Small and moderate-sized companies, no longer able to obtain low-interest loans from Japan's banks, have been turning to "shoko loan" firms. Shokos are allowed to charge interest rates as high as 40 percent. Shokos are very profitable since they can borrow their lending capital from banks that charge them a mere 2.3 percent interest. Shokos have some shocking approaches when it comes to collecting debts. A collector for Nichiei, the biggest shoko firm, was caught on audiotape badgering a debtor. "Sell your house," he threatened, "Sell a kidney ... You can get $28,000 for a kidney. You can get $9,500 for an eyeball." In the wake of the "sell-a-kidney" scandal, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported that Japan's financial regulators have demanded that US-based Citibank and Merrill Lynch "report on their lending to Nichiei."

CNN) -- Embattled Japanese billionaire Yasuo Takei has resigned as chairman of Takefuji Corp, Japan's largest consumer lending firm, over a wire-tapping scandal that has already sent the company's share prices tumbling.
Takei, the 73-year-old founder of Takefuji, was arrested last Tuesday on suspicion of violating the Telecommunications Business Law.
He allegedly ordered employees to bug the phone of 44-year-old freelance journalist Shunsuke Yamaoka, who had written articles critical of Takefuji.
Takei admitted he ordered the wiretapping of a journalist, according to investigative sources quoted by Kyodo news agency Monday.

Death penalty stands for cabby who killed five

SENDAI (Kyodo) The Sendai High Court on Thursday upheld the death sentence for a taxi driver who burned five people to death during an attempted robbery at a branch of Takefuji Corp., a consumer loan firm, in Aomori Prefecture in May 2001.

Mitsuhiro Kobayashi

Mitsuhiro Kobayashi, 45, had appealed his death sentence, denying he had murderous intent when he set the company on fire while the employees were still inside. He claimed he believed the employees had already escaped through the emergency exit or fire escape.

Presiding Judge Shigeru Matsuura dismissed Kobayashi's appeal, saying, "He was able to recognize that it was highly probable the employees would be burned to death inside the office if he set it on fire."

Kobayashi immediately appealed to the Supreme Court.

The fire resulted in the deaths of five employees at the loan company's branch in the city of Hirosaki. Four other employees suffered serious burns.

The high court said Kobayashi decided to rob the firm to repay debts incurred from betting on bicycle races. He set the branch office on fire to vent his irritation over the failed robbery attempt, it said.

He continued to gamble on the races even after burning the employees to death.

"The crime showed his coldblooded personality," the judge said. "Rehabilitating him would be extremely difficult."

The Aomori District Court sentenced Kobayashi to death last February, saying he bore an "enormously heavy" burden of guilt for the crime.

Kobayashi entered the office at around 10:50 a.m. on May 8, 2001, spread gasoline on the floor and demanded money. After the branch manager refused to comply, he ignited the gasoline and fled.

The Japan Times: Feb. 20, 2004

AssKissinger wrote: I guess the mainstream media is too full of BULLSHIT to tell the whole story.

Promise reportedly will soon propose its tie-up cancellation plan to UFJ, under which it would acquire UFJ's consumer loan subsidiary Mobit Co., which Promise and UFJ jointly established.

Following Promise's decision in June to affiliate with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., it reportedly has decided it should not have tie-ups with any other bank.

If the Promise goes ahead with the plan to end its ties with UFJ, consumer loan companies will be divided into two groups: independent Takefuji Co. and Aiful Co., and companies affiliated with major domestic banks, such as Acom Co. and Promise.

HSBC, which opened its first Japan branch in 1866, may buy a stake in Takefuji Corp. of Tokyo, the nation's most profitable consumer lender, said people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified. The bank is also bidding for Osaka-based Aplus Co., which has 4.7 million credit cardholders, they said.
London-based HSBC, which has $1.03 trillion of assets in 79 countries, is seeking a share of Japan's $96 billion consumer finance market.
...HSBC Chairman John Bond wants to expand in Japan after spending $15.5 billion last year to acquire Prospect Heights, Illinois-based Household International Inc. The company lends to 50 million U.S. customers with spotty credit records.

Mulboyne wrote:Looks like HSBC isn't satisfied with just US moneylenders anymore...
HSBC Bids for Takefuji, Aplus to Boost Japan Business

... to acquire Prospect Heights, Illinois-based Household International Inc. The company lends to 50 million U.S. customers with spotty credit records.

The plot thickens...

July 9 (Bloomberg) -- HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe's biggest bank by market value, is trying to make its first acquisitions in Japan as the world's second-largest economy recovers.

Mulboyne wrote:The plot thickens...

U.S. buyout firm Newbridge Capital appears to have edged out rival bidders -- New York investment firm Ripplewood Holdings and British-based bank HSBC (London:HSBA.L - News) -- for a stake in top Japanese consumer lender Takefuji Corp. (Tokyo:8564.T - News).

The foreign firms are looking to enter a $96 billion industry where lenders can charge up to 29 percent using funds borrowed at as low as two percent, with demand from customers high as banks have traditionally preferred lending to companies.

The sale of a controlling stake in Takefuji, Japan's largest consumer finance company, to Newbridge Capital, the private equity company, is on the verge of collapse after the company's founder refused at the last minute to surrender the voting rights on his shares, bankers said.
The move has opened the door for a rival bid from Goldman Sachs, the US investment bank, which is understood to be leading a consortium of investors interested in acquiring the same stake at a higher price and with no conditions concerning the voting rights, the bankers said.
Yasuo Takei established Takefuji in 1968 and built it into a $10bn company. He controls 58 per cent of the firm but is being forced to sell a 33 per cent stake to reduce his interest to less than 25 per cent.
Mr Takei was arrested last year on charges of illegally tapping the phone of a journalist and according to Japanese law, the controlling shareholder of a non-bank lender cannot control more than 25 per cent of the company if he has been imprisoned.
Bankers said the sale to Newbridge for $3.7bn was virtually complete but that, at the last minute, Mr Takei rejected the part of the deal transferring voting rights on the 24.9 per cent of the company he would retain to a blind trust. This structure would have meant he would own the shares, receive the dividends and benefit from any share price appreciation, but that operational control of the company would be removed entirely from his hands and lie instead with the new shareholder and the blind trust's trustee.
Newbridge was keen to include this clause to ensure it would get operational control of Takefuji and not be second-guessed by Mr Takei on crucial strategic decisions, bankers said.
However, Mr Takei is understood to remain deeply attached to the company and bankers said that he had vacillated continuously over the proposed sale, culminating in his eleventh hour rejection of the Newbridge deal.
The members of the Goldman consortium are unknown, but it is understood that if the US investment bank wins, Newbridge could still participate in the deal, bankers said.
The subject of operational control has proved to be a thorny issue in the proposed sale. HSBC, the British bank, initially expressed an interest in Takefuji but backed away from the deal without stating its reasons.
Japanese prosecutors have demanded a three-year jail sentence for Mr Takei and his sentence will be decided on November 17.
Takefuji is considered an attractive acquisition due to the margins that consumer finance companies in Japan can generate from lending at interest rates of up to 29.2 per cent with a cost of capital of about 3 per cent.

gkanai wrote:What an idiot.

Take the money and run. Get out at the top. It ain't going higher than it is now...

Takefuji in Japan posts its first loss
International Herald Tribune, Jul 27
Takefuji, Japan's third-biggest consumer finance [loanshark] company by stock market value, on Tuesday posted the first loss in its 40-year history because of declines in the value of golf and real estate investments.