BANKING

Japanese Finance Minister Steps Down: Ryutaro Hashimoto formally bowed out 11 days after submitting his resignation to take responsibility for a string of stock and banking scandals. The minister told Premier Toshiki Kaifu on Oct. 3 that he wished to go. Kaifu asked him to stay on until a series of high-level international finance meetings were completed in Bangkok. Hashimoto, who represented Japan in the Thai capital over the weekend at sessions of the Group of Seven major industrialized countries and the International Monetary Fund, gave Kaifu his formal resignation on his return to Tokyo.