TOKYO, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Struggling Japanese consumer lender Takefuji Corp is making final preparations to file for bankruptcy protection from creditors, media reported on Monday, hurt by obligations to repay overcharged interest.
In a statement Takefuji denied the media reports and said nothing had been decided on a bankruptcy filing.
Japan's non-bank consumer lenders, which offer unsecured loans mainly to individuals and small business owners, are struggling for survival due to stricter regulations in recent years.
The following is a timeline on Takefuji and Japan's consumer lending sector:
* 1960s: Japan's consumer lending industry begins to establish itself in step with a decline of pawn brokers and a period of strong economic growth. In 1954, the maximum annual interest rate was set at 109.5 percent.
* 1966: Yasuo Takei establishes Takefuji under the name Fuji Shoji. The firm took its current name in 1974.
* 1970s: Foreign firms enter the consumer lending market in the latter part of the decade, offering lower rates than domestic competitors. Around the same time, the industry faces increasing media scrutiny of its lending and collecting practices.
* 1983: Maximum interest rate is cut to 73.0 percent, helping to shrink the number of consumer lenders to around 30,000 from about 230,000 in the span of just one year.
* 1990s: The ending of Japan's asset-inflated bubble in the early part of the decade, along with the introduction of 24-hour ATMs in 1993 and a 1995 rule change allowing consumer lenders to air day-time TV commercials, helps the sector expand rapidly.
* 1998: Takefuji lists on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
* 2000: Takefuji lists on London Stock Exchange.
* 2000: Japan's maximum interest rate is lowered to 29.2 percent from 40.004 percent.
* 2004: Takei admits ordering illegal wiretaps on the phones of journalists whose reports were blamed for falls in Takefuji's share price.
* 2005: Takei's assets reach a peak of $5.6 billion, making him the second-richest man in Japan, according to Forbes magazine.
* 2006: Takei dies at the age of 76.
* 2006: Japan's Supreme Court rules that interest rates being charged by consumer lending firms are illegal, triggering a rush of claims seeking repayment of past interest.
* 2007: Credia becomes Japan's first listed consumer lender to fold under the weight of tighter lending rules. The midsize consumer loan firm had liabilities of 75.7 billion yen.
* 2008: General Electric sells its Japan operations to Shinsei Bank for $5.4 billion and Citigroup says its consumer finance unit will close all outlets under the Dic brand.
* 2009: SFCG Co, a lender to smaller companies, fails with debts of 338 billion yen.
* 2010: At the end of March, Takei's widow and other heirs owned at least 23 percent of Takefuji.
* 2010: In June, the government enacts regulations that include lowering the maximum interest rate lenders can charge and limits the amount individuals can borrow. ($1=84.18 Yen) (Reporting by James Topham; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe)