Bloomberg – Aozora Bank Ltd., the Japanese lender controlled by Cerberus Capital Management LP, posted its first loss in a decade, after investments in U.S. lender GMAC LLC and Bernard Madoff soured.

The bank booked a 242.6 billion yen ($2.5 billion) deficit in the year ended March 31, compared with a profit of 5.93 billion yen a year earlier, it said in a statement today. It lost 35.8 billion yen on U.S. auto financing company GMAC.

Aozora, rescued by Japan’s government during the 1990s banking crisis, has pledged to focus on domestic lending after racking up losses in the U.S. Chief Executive Officer Brian Prince, who replaced Federico Sacasa on Feb. 10 when the bank forecast a loss, declined to comment on reports he merge the company with Shinsei Bank Ltd.

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Tags: 1990s, aozora bank ltd, auto financing, banking crisis, bernard madoff, bloomberg, cerberus capital management, cerberus-capital-management-lp, chief executive officer, decade, financing company, gmac, investments, losses, prince, rsquo, sacasa, shinsei bank, u s auto, yen

eGov monitor – The international financial crisis has left the world as a whole facing exceptional challenges. The breakthrough in the efforts to bring about closer international cooperation and a reform of international financial institutions achieved at the G-20 meeting in Washington on 15 November owes much the coordinated approach developed in the European Union.

If we can now see a chance of resolving the crisis, it is because the European Union has shown the determination needed to take a pioneering role at world level.

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Tags: 163, 1990s, infrastructure, richard-s-fuld