BOJ chief to attend BIS meet; Noda visits Hokkaido

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TOKYO, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa will visit Switzerland on Sept. 5-10 to attend a meeting of the Bank of International Settlements and other events, the central bank said on Thursday.

The BOJ also said a member of its policy board, Tadao Noda, will visit Kushiro of the nothernmost Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido on Sept. 25 to meet local business leaders.

Noda will deliver a speech to the business leaders from 10:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) and hold a news conference from 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. (0500-0530 GMT).

Noda, a banking industry veteran, was among the three board members who voted unsuccessfully for an interest rate hike in January last year. He has voted with the majority since then. (Reporting by Leika Kihara)