zaitech

Noun

zaitech (uncountable)

1. Application of financial engineering techniques in Japanese financial markets since their deregulation in 1984.
   • Not all of the capital raised in this way was channeled into new plant and equipment; a large amount was used for what came to be called zaitech, or financial engineering, which included the purchase of more real estate and securities offering higher and higher yield.1996, Walter Hatch, Asia in Japan's Embrace: Building a Regional Production Alliance, page 21
   • This in turn spurred the proliferation of zaitech — sophisticated financial operations on a global scale.1998, Frank Gibney, editor, Unlocking the Bureaucrat's Kingdom: Deregulation and the Japanese Economy, page 84
2. Speculative financial investments, using simple financial leverage as well as financial engineering, in Japanese financial markets since their deregulation in 1984.
   • Such "high-tech" financial transactions are called 'zaitech' in Japan. Many old-timers thought zaitech was sinfully speculative […]1993, Roy C. Smith, Comeback: The Restoration of American Banking Power in the New World Economy, page 245
   • Inevitably, like the times themselves, the term zaitech later came to connote speculative and imprudent financial dabbling […]2000, Stephen M. Harner, Japan's Financial Revolution and How American Firms Are Profiting, page 217