moody’s assigns Aaa to Japan Finance Organization for Municipalities’ bond

oody's assigns Aaa to Japan Finance Organization for Municipalities' bond 
due 2019; under review for possible downgrade along with other public 
issuers in Japan
Total Amount of Debt Rated is Yen 25 Billion

Tokyo, June 09, 2009 -- Moody's Investors Service has assigned a Aaa 
rating to Japan Finance Organization for Municipalities' (JFM) Series 1 
Japanese Yen 25 billion domestic senior debt due 2019. At the same time 
the rating has been placed under review for possible downgrade, as 
Moody's considers the appropriateness of the public sector support anchor 
(currently the Aaa Local Currency Deposit Ceiling), in accordance with 
the unification of the central government's foreign and domestic currency 
ratings at Aa2. This review was not triggered by a change in JFM's 
stand-alone credit profile. This issue is a domestic yen bond without a 
government guarantee.

JFM is the only specialized public institution providing low-cost,
long-term funds to local governments in Japan. JFM has expanded its 
scope of operations to include loans to the general accounts, in addition 
to public enterprise accounts, of Japanese regional and local 
governments, following the conversion from the old JFM on June 1, 2009.

Moody's last rating action with respect to JFM was taken on May 18, 2009, 
when the Aaa foreign and local currency issuer ratings were placed under 
review for possible downgrade.