"Having promised to protect depositors, the Government must honor its pledge."

He said the bank's prime purpose was to protect depositors.

This money is tapped to protect depositors against losses before Government insurance funds step in.

As for the cost, the Government says it will put up about $13 billion to protect depositors in those failed banks.

He predicts that the Government will need $69.7 billion to protect depositors at failing commercial banks in the next few years.

If a single huge bank fails, the Government might have to come up with $10 billion to protect depositors.

Banks are regulated because they have a responsibility to protect depositors whose money is used to make loans, he said.

But the nonprofit company, with only $4 million in assets as of last November, did not have enough money to protect depositors.

The fund is used to protect depositors when banks fail.

Over the last decade, half of those small banks failed, forcing the Japanese government to pay $4.2 billion to protect depositors.