Takefuji chairman plans to stay on

Takefuji founder Yasuo Takei has no plans for an early retirement

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- The 71-year-old founder of Japan's biggest and most profitable consumer finance company plans to stay in office for another five to six years.

Yasuo Takei, executive chairman of Takefuji, says he is simply following the example of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan, who stood for a second term at the age of 73 in 1984.

Takefuji, which Takei set up in 1966, is the clear leader among Japan's big four consumer finance companies, ahead of Acom, Promise and Aiful.

In the year to March 2001, it made a record net profit of more than $1 billion on revenue of about $3.2 billion.

Japanese finance companies make large profits from providing unsecured short-term loans to consumers and small businesses who are unwilling to approach banks.

Interest rates of up to 29 percent

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The finance companies charge interest rates of up to 29 percent, at a time when the inter-bank rate is almost zero.

Takei's announcement in Tokyo last week that he would stay on as chairman of Takefuji follows the unexpected resignation of his eldest son, Toshiki Takei, 36, who stepped down on June 28 as senior managing director.

A Takefuji spokesman told CNN that the younger Takei resigned for health reasons and would not be returning to the company.

Toshiki Takei had been viewed as the natural successor to his father. Now the focus has turned to Takei's second son, Taketeru, 31, who is also a director at the company.

In an interview with the Nikkei Sangyo newspaper last week, Yasuo Takei said he had several potential successors in mind, including Taketeru Takei, but "it might take five to six years."

Takefuji said on July 2 it would begin offering loan information services via Japan's new L-mode telephones -- the fixed-line versions of the Internet-enabled i-mode phones used by NTT.