The banks of China and Japan, the world’s second- and third-largest economies, have limited exposure to eurozone sovereign debt, reflecting the weak historic links between the two Asian markets and the crisis-hit continent, write Michiyo Nakamoto and Jamil Anderlini.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan’s largest bank by assets, holds $3.2bn in Italian government bonds and $900m worth of Spanish government bonds, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group has a mere $3m in Spanish government bonds and Mizuho has no eurozone government debt. By comparison, MUFG held Y47,263bn ($614bn) in Japanese government bonds at the end of September, while Mizuho held Y30,500bn.

Nomura disclosed in its second-quarter results that it had net exposure of $3.55bn to Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Most of this was in the form of short-term government bonds, because of its status as a primary dealer, and 83 per cent of its holdings matures by March next year, the bank said.