97年11月26日の徳陽シティ銀行破綻は仙台市民や宮城県民にとって、必ずしも驚くべきことではなかった。なぜならば、96年５月23日の「社長交代劇」では大谷邦夫社長が相談役に、新井田時男専務が社長にと、既に数回にわたる大蔵省によるテコ入れがなされていたからである。

　徳陽シティ銀行は当初昭和17年４月　宮城県内の東北、宮城、太洋の無尽会社３社が合併し、三徳無尽会社として設立され、昭和25年11月、社長に早坂順一郎が就任、翌年の「相互銀行法」施行に伴い、徳陽相互銀行となり、その後「早坂一族支配」が続くことになった。平成元年４月、日銀出身の甲斐秀雄副社長が社長に就任し、早坂一族以外から初の社長となった。平成２年６月、社長に大谷邦夫が就任、８月、普通銀行として「徳陽シティ銀行」に転換したが、業績悪化のため他の相互銀行より１年遅れたのである。

　さらに、平成６年、金融当局によって北日本、殖産銀行との合併による「平成銀行」の成立が画策され、３行頭取が合意に達し、東北では大ニュースとして報道されたにも関わらず、敢えなく破談となってしまった。それは不良債権が766億円と公表されたが、実際は1,000億円と云われ、また、東北の地銀、第二地銀中、貸出残高に対する比率も12.36%と最大で、七十七銀行2.06%、徳陽に次いで比率の高い福島銀行でさえ4.34%と、いかに高い数字かがうかがわれたのである。この合併劇の破談は徳陽の業績の悪化を世間に一層印象づけることになり、破綻への道を早める結果となったのである。

　徳陽シティ銀行の破綻は「大蔵省主導の終焉」と位置づけられる。なぜならば、平成元年から８年まで２代続けて大蔵省出身の頭取が就任したにも拘わらず、破綻を食い止めることができなかったこと、さらには、大蔵省主導で平成６年に画策された北日本銀行、殖産銀行との合併による「平成銀行」が３行頭取の合意がなされたものの北日本銀行従業員組合、顧客団体の反対に遭い、敢えなく破談となってしまったことなどからも我が国の金融業界も「大蔵省支配」から次第に「市場原理」に近づきつつあることを示したものと言えよう。

The bankruptcy of the Tokuyou City Bank on November 26, 1997 came as no shock to the citizens of Sendai and the people of the Miyagi prefecture. The drama concerning the bank’s change of presidents took a major turn on May 23, 1996 when the president, Mr. Otani, assumed the position of counsel and the executive director Mr. Niida became the bank’s president.

The bank already had a history of having been propped up numerous times by the Ministry of Finance. Tokuyou City Bank was originally the result of merger among the mutual finance companies of Tohoku in Miyagi-ken, Miyagi, and Taiyou, being established in 1942 as the Santoku Mutual Company. Junichiro Hayasaka was inaugurated as president of the bank in November, 1950. In conjunction with the enforcement of the “mutual saving and loan bank modulo,” the following year it became the Tokuyou City Bank. After that, it was decided that control of the bank by the Hayasaka family would be continue. In April of 1989, however, Vice-President Kai Hideo, a Bank of Japan graduated, was inaugurated as the president, becoming the first president who was not a member of the Hayasaka family.

In June of the following year, Kunio Otani became the president, and in August, the bank, assuming the status of a normal bank, became the “Tokuyou City Bank,” although due to decline in the bank’s achievements, this change occurred a year later than it had in the other mutual savings and loan banks.

Furthermore, it was planned that the bank would become the “Heisei Bank” as a result of the Tokuyou Bank’s 1994 merger with both the Kitanihon Bank and Shokusan Bank, a merger agreed upon by the Ministry of Finance and the presidents of the three banks. This was reported by the media as a very important event in the Tohoku district. Unfortunately, however, the plan was soon cancelled, due to the release of information concerning the Tokuyou Bank’s bad loans. In short, it had previously been released that the Tokuyou Bank’s bad loan totaled 76.6 billion yen. However, it was rumored that the real amount was actually about 100 billion yen.

Furthermore, the ratio of bank’s bad loans to its amount of credit was 12.36%, the largest ratio among the regional and second regional banks of the Tohoku district. Indeed, this ratio compared unfavorably, for example, with the 2.06% ratio of the 77 Bank, and even with the 4.34% ratio of the Fukushima Bank, whose ratio was the second largest among the regional and second regional banks of the Tohoku district.

Indeed, many people saw the Tokuyou Bank’s ratio as excessively large. At this point, many became deeply concerned about the achievement failures of the Tokuyou City Bank and the consequent cancellation of the proposed merger. The result was the hastening of the collapse of the bank and the end of the Ministry of Finance’s leadership in the matter.

Even though from 1989 to 1996 the Tokuyou Bank had two presidents who came to them from the Ministry of Finance, and even though the Ministry led the efforts to merger the Tokuyou, Kitanihon, and Shokusan banks to become the one “Heisei Bank” (a merger agree upon by the presidents of the three banks), nevertheless, the merger was canceled as a result of the cooperative efforts of the Kitanihon Bank’s employees and its customers, and the Ministry of Finance was unable to prevent the bankruptcy.

The experience of the Tokuyou Bank would seem to suggest that our country’s financial world is breaking away the control of the Ministry of Finance and becoming more responsive to the controls of the market.