mizuho and other japanese major banks are also expanding their overseas services.hat's because low interest rates in japan are making it difficult to boost their profits from domestic lending alone. >>> well this is the time the year when workers and managers in japan sit down for annual wage talks. members of the labor union at major bank tokyo mitsubishi ufj plan to ask for a base pay hike of 2%. that means the employees of japan's three leading banks are expected to ask for a second straight annual hike in base pay. workers at tokyo mitts beechi ufj last year won an increase of 0.5%. union leaders say rising prices and the bank's solid business performance, especially overseas mean employees deserve another raise. but bank workers also want a 1% increase in the annual bonus payment. union leaders at major banks sumitomo mittsie and miz co. will also demand a base pay hike of 1.5% and they want an increase of 3% in their bonus payments. >>> that's the latest in business for this hour. here's another check on markets. ♪ ♪ >>> japan's government has made some progr

loan commitments and related derivatives to mizuho financial group.ned by british taxpayers and has been cutting jobs and assets to improve earnings. that is a look at the top stories we are following. oil's priceline over the last month in some ways is reminiscent of the 1980's, when the industry saw a slew of bankruptcies and defaults and consolidation could alix steel sat down with jack gerard ceo of the american petroleum institute. alix: he is so good at answering these questions. he has kind of blood the fifth. my point is that the sector has borrowed $8 billion in on some loans. the high energy companies are ok for now but in 2018, 2019, debt maturities are going to be significant, and barclays is looking at a 4.5% default rate at $60 oil. i asked jack if we will see the same kinds of accuracies and layoffs and pain that was in the 1980's. jack: difficult to predict that. it is a question of how long we stay at the current price. those are all factors we can't predict. alix: what if it does remain here? jack: you will see much of what we have s

alone portfolio and $36 billion and got $3 billion from mizuho. reducing their risk weighted assets and their bad bank assets. lots of change and rbs. they are becoming safer and more boring and rbs overall. 13%, that is the key number. the investor base is us. 80% owned by the taxpayers. improvement in capital and they will pay a dividend perhaps a share buyback and they see the potential for material distribution. trying to woo the consumer and shaking up their own market. a new chairman announced, howard davies/ he's led the commission on you -- on u.k. airport capacity. he too, knows how to negotiate with the government. rbs' ceo saying i will not take my one million pounds annual pay package. he doesn't want it to be a distraction. in fact, none of the executives should be getting a bonus. notably, there on banking bonus pool has been slashed. that pr them keeps coming. >> bosses were grilled by parliament. over the swiss banking private unit is said it was the product of a different era and he addressed while he -- why he was paid from a com