is a leading diversified Japanese financial institution that provides a full range of financial products and services to both institutional and individual customers. It is owned by SBI Group and headquartered in Chuo, Tokyo. History SBI Shinsei Bank is the successor of the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, which had a government monopoly on the issuance of many long-term debt securities. Following the collapse of the Japanese asset price bubble in 1989, the bank was riddled with bad debts: the government nationalized it in 1998, and it was delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. After several proposed mergers with domestic banks, LTCB was sold to an international group led by US-based Ripplewood Holdings in March 2000 for ¥121 billion ($1.2 billion U.S.), the first time in history that a Japanese bank came under foreign control. Investor Christopher Flowers also played a major role in the buyout syndicate and remained a key shareholder of the company until August 2019, when the Japanese government acquired the shares held by his fund. As part of the deal, the Japanese government insisted that LTCB maintain existing loan accounts for at least three years. The final purchase agreement included a to the effect that Shinsei could demand within the next three years that the government purchase any claims which had fallen by twenty percent or more from book value. A similar provision was afforded Aozora Bank, the successor of LTCB's similarly beleaguered sister company Nippon Credit Bank. LTCB was relaunched as "Shinsei Bank" (literally "Newborn" or "New Life" Bank) in June 2000, with new management and services. Many of Shinsei's managers had previous experience working for foreign financial institutions in Japan, such as CEO Thierry Porte (formerly of Morgan Stanley) and CIO Jay Dvivedi (formerly of Citibank). Shinsei continued to use the Long-Term Credit Bank SWIFT code (LTCBJPJT). SBI Shinsei used the defect warranty provision to dispose of all the worst debts owed to the bank. Several companies which had used LTCB as their primary bank went bankrupt as a result, including Sogo (July, 2000) and the Dai-Ichi Hotel. This created a furor in Japan: politicians especially criticized Goldman Sachs, which advised on the sale of LTCB, for not warning the government of the risks inherent in the defect security provision. SBI Shinsei then raised ¥230 billion in an IPO on February 20, 2004. The purchase of Shinsei thus turned a profit of over ¥100