The latter's merger with Bank of Tokyo (No. 12) is just the latest union among several in recent years, which also created Sakura Bank, No. 1 in the previous Financial 500.

CNN: The Asiaweek Financial 500

The other FEBTC shareholders, which include Japan's Sakura Bank with a 25% stake, will get 0.6992 of a BPI share for every FEBTC share - that's a 27% premium over FEBTC's average past-month stock price.

CNN: Here's to the New No. 1

This week a subordinated bond issued by Sakura Bank was trading at a whopping seven percentage points over Libor, the rate at which the healthiest banks borrow.

ECONOMIST: Japan��s battered banks