TOKYO, March 9 (Reuters) - The balance of outstanding loans held by Japanese banks rose 3.5 percent in February from a year earlier, Bank of Japan data showed on Monday.
Loans held by the country's four main categories of banks, including "shinkin" or credit unions, stood at 470.4 trillion yen ($4,783 billion).
Excluding factors such as loan write-offs, the loan balance rose 4.4 percent from the same month a year earlier.
Outstanding Japanese commercial paper held by banks fell 6.1 percent in February from a year earlier after a 10.1 percent drop in January.
Following is a table of Japanese bank lending (preliminary, with year-on-year percentage changes; some previous figures may be revised):
FEB JAN DEC Banks including shinkin +3.5 +3.6 +3.6 Banks excluding shinkin +3.8 +4.0 +4.1 (Reporting by Hideyuki Sano; Editing by Hugh Lawson)