The banking system in Japan played the pivotal role in the process of economic and industrial reconstructions and developments after the World War II. What is, then, the role of "Finance" for the industrial restructurings and further developments in Japan now, after the bubble-busting? The Industrial Bank of Japan, Ltd.(IBJ), specialized in the long-term lending for investments, took the role of allocating and injecting the moneys in the particular industrial sectors under the national economic reconstruction program led by the Japanese Government, which resulted in great success. As a private entity, however, IBJ tried hard to establish its own independent decision making criteria for their loan commitments, which was only possible by elaborating the analytical skills of credit appraisals of the firms based on its own perspectives on the relevant industries. Unfortunately, however, IBJ was obliged to merge with other banks for survival in the financial crises in 1990s. This paper tries to examine what kind of attributes and capabilities are needed for the banking institutions, such as IBJ, to execute good lending activities contributing properly for the growth of national economy. The industrial structural reforms often have to fight against strong resistances from the current stakeholders, and the accurate and deep insights on the future of the industries are essential for leading those reforms in a right track. Nowadays, Private Equity Funds and Buy-out Funds, such as KKR which has just landed Japan lately, succeeded the role of banks partly for restructuring and re-engineering the companies by ways of M&A and other financial tools. This paper examines the features of those new financial institutions and their challenges for the sustainable growth of the national economies through their activities.
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