It’s really happening: Japan’s central bank starts decades‑long unwind of ETFs

BANK OF JAPAN QUIETLY BEGINS ETF SALES PROGRAM SET TO LAST A CENTURY – NIKKEI

— First Squawk (@FirstSquawk) February 9, 2026

Per AI:

Multiple major Japanese financial outlets — including Nikkei Asia, which is the country’s most credible economic newspaper — reported that:

• The BOJ has started selling ETFs from its balance sheet.
• The planned pace is around ¥600–700 billion per year.
• The BOJ holds roughly ¥75 trillion in ETFs.

Do the math and you get a timeline that stretches close to 100 years if the pace remains unchanged.

Japan spent years buying ETFs to prop up markets and fight deflation. Now that inflation has returned and policy is normalizing, they need to unwind — but slowly, because:

• They own huge chunks of the Japanese stock market
• Selling too fast would crash prices
• They want to avoid destabilizing corporate governance
• They need to maintain market confidence

So they chose the slowest, least disruptive path imaginable.