BOJ publishes minutes of September meeting: fund-supply loan rates move from fixed to floatingPlain-language (teen-friendly): the BOJ released its September meeting record and is changing how loan rates are set
At 8:50 a.m. on November 5, 2026, the Bank of Japan published the minutes of the Monetary Policy Meeting held on September 17 and 18, 2026. At that meeting the Board decided unanimously to change the loan rate of the climate response operation from a fixed rate to a floating rate, and to set a ceiling of 50 trillion yen on the total amount of loans and 10 trillion yen on the loan limit per counterparty. The minutes also record the Board's view at the time on prices and financial conditions: domestic producer prices were up in the 7 percent range year on year, and bank lending was up in the latter half of the 5 percent range.
Key points
- The minutes cover the meeting held at the Bank's Head Office on September 17 (2:00 p.m. to 3:59 p.m.) and September 18 (9:00 a.m. to 11:47 a.m.). They were approved at the meeting of October 29 and 30 and published on November 5
- The decisions were: to change the loan rate of the climate response operation from fixed to floating, and to set a ceiling of 50 trillion yen on the total amount of loans and 10 trillion yen on the loan limit per counterparty; to change the loan rate of the operation supporting financial institutions in disaster areas from fixed to floating; and to allow the funds-supplying operation against pooled collateral to use a floating-rate method in addition to the competitive-auction and fixed-rate methods. All were decided unanimously
- For the operation supporting financial institutions in disaster areas, the Great East Japan Earthquake will be removed from the covered disasters as of the loans made in May 2027. The climate response operation began lending in December 2021 and runs until the end of fiscal 2030
- On prices as seen at the meeting: domestic producer prices were up in the 7 percent range year on year, services producer prices (excluding international transportation) up around 3 percent, and consumer prices (excluding fresh food) up in the latter half of the 1 percent range most recently. Looking ahead, the rate of increase was expected to widen clearly to above 3 percent in the second half of the fiscal year
- Financial conditions were described as accommodative. Bank lending was up in the latter half of the 5 percent range year on year, outstanding issuance of commercial paper and corporate bonds up around 5 percent, and the money stock up around 2 percent. Firms' funding costs were rising, and corporate bankruptcies were broadly flat
What to do in practice
- List your company's borrowings and mark each one as fixed-rate or floating-rate; for floating-rate loans, check when and how the rate is reset
- Ask your bank how rising funding costs will affect the terms offered to your company
On November 5 the Bank of Japan released the record of the meeting it held on September 17 and 18. The Bank has several schemes for lending money to banks, and at that meeting everyone agreed to change the way the interest on those loans is set, from "the same all the way through" to "reviewed later on." The record also describes what was happening to prices at the time: the prices of goods traded between companies were up in the 7 percent range compared with the same month a year earlier.
- December 2021Lending under the climate response operation began
- September 18, 2026The meeting agreed unanimously to switch the loan rate from fixed to floating, among other changes
- November 5, 2026The minutes of that meeting were published
- May 2027The Great East Japan Earthquake comes off the list of disasters covered by the support scheme for financial institutions
- End of fiscal 2030The climate response operation reaches its end date
Points
- The record of a Bank of Japan meeting is released after the next meeting has checked it. The record of the September 17 and 18 meeting came out on November 5
- What was decided: the interest on loans to banks changes from "the same all the way through" (fixed) to "reviewed later" (floating). Everyone was in favour
- Lending for climate response also got ceilings: 50 trillion yen in total, and 10 trillion yen for any one bank
What the words mean
- Minutes
- A record of what was discussed at a meeting and what was decided
- Operation
- A scheme in which the Bank of Japan lends money to banks or buys government bonds to adjust the amount of money in the economy
- Unanimous
- Everyone who attended the meeting was in favour
- Bank of Japan: Bank of Japan, Minutes of the Monetary Policy Meeting held on September 17 and 18, 2026
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