(RTTNews) - Overall bank lending in Japan was up 3.0 percent on year in November, the Bank of Japan said on Monday - coming in at 626.923 trillion yen.
That exceeded expectations for an increase of 2.6 percent, which would have been unchanged from the October reading.
Excluding trusts, lending was up an annual 3.3 percent to 549.160 trillion yen, accelerating from 2.9 percent in the previous month.
Lending from trusts rose 0.8 percent on year to 77.762 trillion yen, up from 0.7 percent a month earlier.
Lending from foreign banks surged an annual 25.2 percent to 4.798 trillion yen, up from 22.3 percent in October.
