Note 2-8

(8) At a monetary policy meeting on June 11, 2003, the Bank of Japan decided on the "outline of the scheme for outright purchases of asset-backed securities." The decision said the central bank would purchase up to ¥1 trillion in asset-backed securities (asset-backed securities, synthetic-type securities and asset-backed commercial paper) for the immediate future since Japanese financial institutions were failing to work well as financial intermediaries. On June 25, the BOJ established "principal terms and conditions for the outright purchases of asset-backed securities." The outright purchases have been implemented since July 28, 2003.