Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group
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is a Japanese multinational banking and financial services institution headquartered in Yurakucho,
Chiyoda, Tokyo is a special ward located in central Tokyo, Japan. It is known as Chiyoda City in English.Profile< ...
,
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. The group operates in retail, corporate, and investment banking segment worldwide. It provides financial products and services to a wide range of clients, including individuals, small and medium-sized enterprises, large corporations, financial institutions and public sector entities. Since 2011, it has been included into the
Financial Stability Board The Financial Stability Board (FSB) is an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system. It was established after the G20 London summit in April 2009 as a successor to the Financial Stability Forum ...
's list of global systemically important banks. SMBC group operates in over 40 countries and maintains a presence in all International Financial Centres as the 12th biggest bank in the world by total assets. It is one of the largest global financial institutions in
project finance Project finance is the long-term financing of infrastructure and industrial projects based upon the projected cash flows of the project rather than the balance sheets of its sponsors. Usually, a project financing structure involves a number of equi ...
space by total loan value. As of May 2020, SMBC group is listed as 80th largest public company in the world according to
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
ranking. It is the second largest banking institution by total assets and market capitalization in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. Along with MUFJ Financial Group and
Mizuho Financial Group , abbreviated as MHFG, or simply called Mizuho, is a banking holding company headquartered in the Ōtemachi district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The name "" literally means "abundant rice" in Japanese and "harvest" in the figurative sense. Upon ...
, SMBC group is referred to as a Japanese megabank, one of the three largest banking institutions who dominate market share in Japan's
financial system A financial system is a system that allows the exchange of funds between financial market participants such as lenders, investors, and borrowers. Financial systems operate at national and global levels. Financial institutions consist of complex, ...
. It is closely affiliated with
Sumitomo The is one of the largest Japanese ''keiretsu'', or business groups, founded by Masatomo Sumitomo (1585-1652) around 1615 during the early Edo period. History The Sumitomo Group traces its roots to a bookshop in Kyoto founded circa 1615 by Masa ...
and
Mitsui is one of the largest '' keiretsu'' in Japan and one of the largest corporate groups in the world. The major companies of the group include Mitsui & Co. ( general trading company), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Nippon Paper Industri ...
''
keiretsu A is a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings. In the legal sense, it is a type of informal business group that are loosely organized alliances within the social world of Japan's business community. The ''ke ...
''. The core subsidiary of SMBC group is the banking unit, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC).
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group is a Japanese multinational banking and financial services institution headquartered in Yurakucho, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The group operates in retail, corporate, and investment banking segment worldwide. It provides financial products and ser ...
acts as the holding company for the group. The other major subsidiaries include SMBC Nikko Securities, SMBC Trust Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management, Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing and Japan Research Institute (JRI).


Company history


Sakura Bank

was a Japanese bank based in Tokyo and Kobe. It was formed in April 1990 as the Mitsui Taiyo Kobe Bank (MTKB) by the merger of
Mitsui Bank was a major Japanese bank from 1876 to 1990. It merged with Taiyo Kobe Bank to form Mitsui Taiyo Kobe Bank (MTKB), which was renamed The Sakura Bank in April 1992. Sakura Bank is now part of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). History T ...
(founded 1876) and
Taiyo Kobe Bank was a major Japanese bank which merged with Mitsui Bank in 1990 to form Mitsui Taiyo Kobe Bank (MTKB), renamed The Sakura Bank in April 1992. Sakura Bank is now part of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). TKB was unique during its time in ...
(founded 1973). Sakura bank root can be traced back to July 1876 when its predecessor, Mitsui Bank, was established with capital of two million yen. It was one of the Japanese government's main banks for deposits and tax collections until the formation of the
Bank of Japan The is the central bank of Japan.Louis Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric. (2005). "Nihon Ginkō" in The bank is often called for short. It has its headquarters in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. History Like most modern Japanese instituti ...
in 1882. In ensuing decades, the
Mitsui is one of the largest '' keiretsu'' in Japan and one of the largest corporate groups in the world. The major companies of the group include Mitsui & Co. ( general trading company), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Nippon Paper Industri ...
family took over numerous government industrial plants to form a major ''
zaibatsu is a Japanese language, Japanese term referring to industrial and financial vertical integration, vertically integrated business conglomerate (company), conglomerates in the Empire of Japan, whose influence and size allowed control over signi ...
'' conglomerate, with the bank as one of its core businesses. Mitsui Bank reorganized as an unlimited partnership in 1893, and as a limited company (capital stock: ¥20 million) in 1909. World War II led Mitsui Bank to distance itself from the Mitsui ''zaibatsu'' beginning around 1937, as the bank's large balance of loans to munitions manufacturers made it vulnerable to failure should a recession occur after the war. The solution found by Mitsui's chairman was to merge the bank with the
Dai-Ichi Bank (第一) is a compound modifier phrase of Japanese origin, meaning ''number one'', or ''first''. In kanji, "dai" ("number") is 第Nakao, Seigo''Random House Japanese-English English-Japanese Dictionary'' via Google Books, p. 39. Retrieved 2011-0 ...
, creating a much larger institution outside the Mitsui family's control. In April 1943, Mitsui Bank merged with Dai-Ichi to form
Teikoku Bank was a major Japanese bank from 1876 to 1990. It merged with Taiyo Kobe Bank to form Mitsui Taiyo Kobe Bank (MTKB), which was renamed The Sakura Bank in April 1992. Sakura Bank is now part of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). History ...
("Imperial Bank"). Teikoku almost immediately found itself short of funds, and for the remainder of the war, mainly provided short-term financing, with long-term financing for its munitions manufacturing customers mostly provided by the
Industrial Bank of Japan The Industrial Bank of Japan, Limited (IBJ), based in Tokyo, Japan, was one of the largest banks in the world during the latter half of the 20th century. It combined with Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank and Fuji Bank in 2002 to form Mizuho Financial Grou ...
. Dai-Ichi and Mitsui had very different corporate cultures which led to friction between the two; the two banks never completely integrated, and in October 1948, Dai-Ichi Bank separated from Teikoku Bank. Teikoku Bank listed its shares on the Tokyo and Osaka stock exchanges in May 1949 and changed its name back to Mitsui Bank in January 1954. Mitsui Bank merged with Toto Bank in April 1968. Around 1960, Mitsui Bank and its general trading company partner Mitsui & Co. formed a horizontal ''
keiretsu A is a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings. In the legal sense, it is a type of informal business group that are loosely organized alliances within the social world of Japan's business community. The ''ke ...
'' alliance between other companies descended from the Mitsui conglomerate, including
Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
,
Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure system ...
, Toyo Menka Kaisha,
Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries , formerly known as , is a Japanese engineering corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan that produces and offers ships, space launch vehicles, aircraft engines, marine diesel engines, gas turbines, gas engines, railway systems, turbochargers f ...
, Showa Aircraft and
Oji Paper is a Japanese manufacturer of paper products. In 2012 the company was the third largest company in the global forest, paper and packaging industry. The company's stock is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and the stock is constituent of the N ...
. Mitsui established The Mitsui Bank of California in Los Angeles in 1974, and acquired Manufacturers Bank in 1981, merging the two later that year to form Mitsui Manufacturers Bank (renamed Manufacturers Bank in 1992). Mitsui Bank agreed to merge with
Taiyo Kobe Bank was a major Japanese bank which merged with Mitsui Bank in 1990 to form Mitsui Taiyo Kobe Bank (MTKB), renamed The Sakura Bank in April 1992. Sakura Bank is now part of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). TKB was unique during its time in ...
in 1989. The TKB-Mitsui merger, agreed in end of 1989 during the height of the
Japanese asset price bubble The was an economic bubble in Japan from 1986 to 1991 in which real estate and stock market prices were greatly inflated. In early 1992, this price bubble burst and Japan's economy stagnated. The bubble was characterized by rapid acceleration ...
, was to create the second largest bank in the world behind
Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank , abbreviated as , was one of the largest banks in the world during the latter half of the 20th century. Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank was created in 1971 by a consortium of two banks: Dai-Ichi Bank, Japan's oldest bank, and Nippon Kangyo Bank, a state fin ...
. While TKB had a large base of individual and small business customers, Mitsui had a complementary base of larger institutional Clients. The Sakura Bank name was adopted 3 years later in April 1992. The merger was aimed at leveraging these synergies, as well as providing stronger competition against European banks, which were expected to consolidate following a deregulation in 1992. Sakura became a major corporate and retail bank in the
Greater Tokyo Area The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, consisting of the Kantō region of Japan (including Tokyo Metropolis and the prefectures of Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Tochigi) as well as the ...
during the 1990s and was the largest retail bank in Japan by several measures, including housing loan and investment trust sales. However, Sakura incurred massive bad loan write-offs in 1998 and approached one of its major corporate customers,
Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
, for financial support, which was rejected. Sakura led the consortium that established Japan Net Bank, an online bank, in 2000, and began talks with
Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
to establish a second online banking operation in Japan.


The Sumitomo Bank

Sumitomo Bank was established as a private enterprise in November 1895 and reorganized as a limited company with 15 million yen of capital in March 1912. It opened numerous overseas branches during the World War I era as the Sumitomo ''
zaibatsu is a Japanese language, Japanese term referring to industrial and financial vertical integration, vertically integrated business conglomerate (company), conglomerates in the Empire of Japan, whose influence and size allowed control over signi ...
'' business globalized. After World War II, the
Sumitomo group The is one of the largest Japanese ''keiretsu'', or business groups, founded by Masatomo Sumitomo (1585-1652) around 1615 during the early Edo period. History The Sumitomo Group traces its roots to a bookshop in Kyoto founded circa 1615 by Ma ...
was dismantled and its constituent companies were forbidden from using the Sumitomo name. The bank renamed itself Osaka Bank in October 1948. In December 1952, its name was changed back to Sumitomo Bank. Sumitomo was the main bank for several major Japanese manufacturers during the early postwar era, including
NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...
and
Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...
(Matsushita). In the 1970s, it lost nearly US$1 billion in the restructuring of Osaka-based general trading company Ataka & Co., which, combined with the contemporaneous bailout of
Mazda , commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan. In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...
, had a major impact on Sumitomo's finances, driving it down from the most profitable bank in Japan to being only ninth-ranked. However, the Ataka and Mazda bailouts enhanced Sumitomo's industry reputation by showing its dedication to customers. It became the largest Japanese bank by deposits until the merger of Dai-Ichi Bank and Nippon Kangyo Bank to form
Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank , abbreviated as , was one of the largest banks in the world during the latter half of the 20th century. Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank was created in 1971 by a consortium of two banks: Dai-Ichi Bank, Japan's oldest bank, and Nippon Kangyo Bank, a state fin ...
. In 1986, Sumitomo merged with Heiwa Sogo Bank in order to expand its presence in the Tokyo area. In the same year, it acquired 12.5% of
Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...
. Sumitomo incurred major losses during the collapse of the
Japanese asset price bubble The was an economic bubble in Japan from 1986 to 1991 in which real estate and stock market prices were greatly inflated. In early 1992, this price bubble burst and Japan's economy stagnated. The bubble was characterized by rapid acceleration ...
in the 1990s. In 1993 it wrote off 100 billion yen in bad loans, and in 1994 its Nagoya branch manager was murdered in possible connection with a bad debt collection. In 1995, it posted the first net loss of a major Japanese bank in the postwar era. It sold Sumitomo Bank of California, the sixth-largest bank in California, at a steep discount to
Zions Bancorporation Zions Bancorporation is a bank holding company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. Zions Bancorporation originated as Keystone Insurance and Investment Co., a Utah Corporation, in April 1955. In April 1960, Keystone, together with several in ...
in 1998 (SBC is now part of
California Bank and Trust California Bank & Trust (CB&T) is a full-service bank specializing in consumer, commercial and wealth management services headquartered in San Diego, California. With more than 80 branches located throughout California, CB&T is a subsidiary of Z ...
). In 1999, amid intensifying competition as other Japanese and foreign banks consolidated, Sumitomo announced its merger with
Sakura Bank was a Japanese bank based in Tokyo and Kobe. It was formed in April 1990 as the Mitsui Taiyo Kobe Bank (MTKB) by the merger of Mitsui Bank (founded 1876) and Taiyo Kobe Bank (founded 1973). The Sakura Bank name was adopted in April 1992. Histor ...
to form Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. The merger was approved in June 2000 and combined Sakura's strong retail operation and eastern Japan presence with Sumitomo's strong wholesale operation and western Japan presence.


Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) was formed by the merger of
The Sumitomo Bank was a major Japanese bank based in Osaka and a central component of the Sumitomo Group. It merged with Sakura Bank on April 1, 2001 to form Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. History Sumitomo Bank was established as a private enterprise ...
and
Sakura Bank was a Japanese bank based in Tokyo and Kobe. It was formed in April 1990 as the Mitsui Taiyo Kobe Bank (MTKB) by the merger of Mitsui Bank (founded 1876) and Taiyo Kobe Bank (founded 1973). The Sakura Bank name was adopted in April 1992. Histor ...
in April 2001. Sumitomo Bank was a major Japanese bank founded in 1895; while Sakura Bank was a descendant of
Mitsui Bank was a major Japanese bank from 1876 to 1990. It merged with Taiyo Kobe Bank to form Mitsui Taiyo Kobe Bank (MTKB), which was renamed The Sakura Bank in April 1992. Sakura Bank is now part of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). History T ...
, another major Japanese bank founded in 1876, but with operations dating back to 1683, when the
Tokugawa Shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
granted
Mitsui Takatoshi was the founder of the Mitsui family of merchants and industrialists that later emerged as the Mitsui Group, a powerful Japanese zaibatsu (business conglomerate). Life Mitsui was born in 1622, in Matsusaka, Ise Province (present-day Matsusa ...
permission to act as a money changer. The merger created one of the world's largest banking group, with similar size to
Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...
and the pending merger that would form
Mizuho Bank is the integrated retail and corporate banking unit of Mizuho Financial Group (; ), the third largest financial services company in Japan, with total assets of approximately $1.8 trillion in 2017. Mizuho is one of the three so-called Japanese ...
. However, the newly created bank was still plagued with bad assets at that time post the asset price bubble burst (the Japanese banking industry as a whole suffered from significant non-performing loans during the 1990s and early 2000s). This led to several corporate actions taken by SMBC to clean its balance sheet and raise capital such as writing off its non-performing loans and selling its entire stake in
Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...
. In 2003, SMBC conducted
reverse merger A reverse takeover (RTO), reverse merger, or reverse IPO is the acquisition of a public company by a private company so that the private company can bypass the lengthy and complex process of going public. Sometimes, conversely, the public compa ...
with its subsidiary, Wakashio Bank, to secure financial resources to cover large deferred losses from its equity holdings. Although SMBC was technically dissolved and Wakashio Bank became a company that survived, under the Japanese Commercial Code, the surviving entity took the name Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., just like the disbanded bank name. SMBC President Yoshifumi Nishikawa and Chairman Akishige Okada became president and Chairman of the new entity respectively. Hiroyasu Ichikawa, President of Wakashio Bank, assumed the position of senior managing director. The idea of the reverse merger is to create smaller entity with excess profit. The profit, then, was used to accelerate write-offs of the bank's unrealized securities losses and boost sales of its shareholdings to reduce risk from the fluctuation of stock prices. Post the merger, the new entity grew rapidly through organic and inorganic growth strategy. The assets expanded from 102.4 trillion yen in 2003 to more than 200 trillion yen by the end of 2019, making it the 12th largest bank in the world. At present, the bank serves as the core retail, corporate, and investment banking arm of ''both'' the namesake
Sumitomo The is one of the largest Japanese ''keiretsu'', or business groups, founded by Masatomo Sumitomo (1585-1652) around 1615 during the early Edo period. History The Sumitomo Group traces its roots to a bookshop in Kyoto founded circa 1615 by Masa ...
and
Mitsui is one of the largest '' keiretsu'' in Japan and one of the largest corporate groups in the world. The major companies of the group include Mitsui & Co. ( general trading company), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Nippon Paper Industri ...
groups. Its traditional client base is made up of Japanese corporates, but overseas corporate lending increased following overseas expansion. SMBC's overseas network consists of 130 branches and offices in 40 countries and regions as of 2018. SMBC provides financial products and services to a wide range of clients, including individuals, small and medium-sized enterprises, large corporations, financial institutions and public sector entities. Since 2008, the
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
branch has become SMBC's regional hub in Asia Pacific while global headquarters is still maintained in
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
,
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. SMBC's shares has become listed on the first section of the
Tokyo Stock Exchange The , abbreviated as Tosho () or TSE/TYO, is a stock exchange located in Tokyo, Japan. It is the third largest stock exchange in the world by aggregate market capitalization of its listed companies, and the largest in Asia. It had 2,292 listed co ...
, the
Osaka Securities Exchange , renamed from , is the largest derivatives exchange in Japan, in terms of amount of business handled. , the Osaka Securities Exchange had 477 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of $212 billion. The Nikkei 225 Futures, intr ...
and the
Nagoya Stock Exchange Nagoya Stock Exchange (名古屋証券取引所 ''Nagoya Shōken Torihikijo'', NSE) is a stock trading market in Nagoya, Japan. It is Japan's second largest exchange, behind the Tokyo Stock Exchange. History The Nagoya Stock Exchange (NSE) is t ...
since December 2002. It has secondary listing in
New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...
. The stock tickers are and . The bank steadily increased its tier 1 capital ratios from 12.19% in 2014 to 16.69% as reported in March 2018.
Standard & Poor's S&P Global Ratings (previously Standard & Poor's and informally known as S&P) is an American credit rating agency (CRA) and a division of S&P Global that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks, bonds, and commodities. S&P is con ...
,
Moody’s Moody's Investors Service, often referred to as Moody's, is the bond credit rating business of Moody's Corporation, representing the company's traditional line of business and its historical name. Moody's Investors Service provides international ...
and
Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings Inc. is an American credit rating agency and is one of the " Big Three credit rating agencies", the other two being Moody's and Standard & Poor's. It is one of the three nationally recognized statistical rating organizations (NRSRO) ...
assigned SMBC's an A1, A and A rating respectively (as at March 2018).


Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG) was established in December 2002 through a share transfer from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. It acts as
bank holding A bank holding company is a Holding company, company that controls one or more banks, but does not necessarily engage in banking itself. The Compound (linguistics), compound bancorp (''banc''/''bank'' + ''corporation, corp
ration Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...
') is often u ...
and
financial services Financial services are the Service (economics), economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, acco ...
company of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. In February 2003,
Sumitomo Mitsui Card Company, Limited The is one of the largest Japanese ''keiretsu'', or business groups, founded by Masatomo Sumitomo (1585-1652) around 1615 during the early Edo period. History The Sumitomo Group traces its roots to a bookshop in Kyoto founded circa 1615 by Masa ...
,
SMBC Leasing Company, Limited SMBC may refer to: Companies and organizations * SMBC Aviation Capital, an aircraft leasing company associated with the bank * Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, a bank based in Japan * Sydney Missionary and Bible College Government and politic ...
, and The Japan Research Institute became wholly owned subsidiaries of SMFG. SMFG reached an agreement in June 2004 to form a strategic alliance with Promise Co., Ltd. on consumer finance business. The two firms started collaborative business in April 2005. The same month, SMFG reached an agreement to form a strategic alliance with NTT DoCoMo on credit card business. A portion of the shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Card held by SMFG were transferred to NTT DoCoMo, and Sumitomo Mitsui Card issued new shares and allocated them to NTT DoCoMo by means of third party allocation in July 2005. Collaborative business began in December 2005. In September 2006,
SMBC Friend Securities SMBC may refer to: Companies and organizations * SMBC Aviation Capital, an aircraft leasing company associated with the bank * Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, a bank based in Japan * Sydney Missionary and Bible College Government and politic ...
became a wholly owned subsidiary of SMFG and the following month, SMFG reached an agreement to pursue strategic joint business with the Sumitomo Corporation group in the leasing and auto leasing businesses. SMFG acquired
Nikko Cordial Nikko Cordial Corporation was the holding company for Nikko Cordial Securities, Japan's third largest brokerage until 2008, when Nikko Cordial Corporation became a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup; upon completion of share exchange, it merg ...
, a
brokerage A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confu ...
, from
Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking ...
in May 2009. In April 2016, Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing completed the acquisition of General Electric Group's Japan-based leasing business.


Relevant timeline

* April 2001: Sakura Bank and Sumitomo Bank merged to form Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. (Capital stock: ¥1,276,7 billion) * December 2002: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) established a holding company named Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG) through a share transfer, SMBC becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of SMFG. * March 2003: Wakashio Bank (established June 1996) conducted reverse merger with SMBC. * August 2004: SMBC Group launched competing bid to acquire ailing Japanese bank
UFJ UFJ, which stands for the United Financial of Japan, is used in the former companies of UFJ Bank, UFJ Group, and UFJ Holdings. These related institutions disappeared after the merger of The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and UFJ Bank in 2005. UFJ Bank its ...
, challenging a takeover of UFJ by the Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group (see
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is a Japanese bank holding and financial services company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. MUFG holds assets of around US$3.1 trillion as of 2016 and is one of the "Three Great Houses" of the Mitsubishi Group alongside Mitsubishi Corpor ...
). While it eventually lost that bid, SMBC is credited with increasing competition within Japan's once staid banking industry. * July 2008: SMBC Group bought a 2.1 percent stake in
Barclays Bank Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...
for £500m. * March 2015: SMBC Group bought HK$6.58 billion (JP¥105 billion, US$849 million) of new
Bank of East Asia The Bank of East Asia Limited, often abbreviated to BEA, is a Hong Kong banking and financial services company, headquartered in Central, Hong Kong. It is currently the largest independent local Hong Kong bank, and one of two remaining family ...
shares, raising SMBC's stake in the Hong Kong lender to 17.5% from 9.7%. * January 2019: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Indonesia merged with PT Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Nasional Tbk, also known as Bank BTPN. The group owned 96,89% ownership of the bank since the merger was completed on 1 February 2019, with Bank BTPN as the surviving brand. Indonesian authorities approved the merger in December 2018, while Japanese authorities approved the merger a month later. * March 2020: SMBC Group agreed to buy a 4.9 percent stake in
Ares Management Ares Management Corporation is an American global alternative investment manager operating in the credit, private equity and real estate markets. The company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California, with additional of ...
. As part of this agreement, the group will make a US$384 million equity investment into the firm. File:Mitsui Main Building 2009.jpg, SMBC
Nihonbashi is a business district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan which grew up around the bridge of the same name which has linked two sides of the Nihonbashi River at this site since the 17th century. The first wooden bridge was completed in 1603. The current ...
Branch File:Mitsui sumitomo bank east tower.jpg, SMBC East Tower,
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
,
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
File:Sumitomo_Mitsui_Banking_Corporation.jpg, SMBC Ashiya Station branch File:Mitsui Sumitomo Kyoto 三井住友銀行 京都支店.jpg, SMBC
Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...
Branch


Corporate structure


Business division

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group is a Japanese multinational banking and financial services institution headquartered in Yurakucho, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The group operates in retail, corporate, and investment banking segment worldwide. It provides financial products and ser ...
acts as the holding company for the
SMBC group is a Japanese multinational banking and financial services institution headquartered in Yurakucho, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The group operates in retail, corporate, and investment banking segment worldwide. It provides financial products and serv ...
. The core subsidiary of the group is the banking unit, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). The group's banking unit is organised in the following structure: *Consumer Banking Unit *Middle Market Unit *Corporate Banking Unit *Investment Banking Unit *International Banking Unit *Treasury Unit *Compliance Unit *Corporate Staff Unit Throughout the years, the group has expanded into other related businesses such as leasing, brokerage and asset management. As of 2020, the major subsidiaries beside the banking unit include SMBC Nikko Securities, SMBC Trust Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management, Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing and Japan Research Institute (JRI).


Brand


Group name

The group was identified by its holding entity name, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG), until early of 2018. By March 2018, the group established "SMBC Group" as its master brand name. Since then, the corporate group has been referred to as SMBC Group instead of SMFG. The press release by the company stated the move is to associate the brand with the group's core banking business, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.


Corporate logo

SMBC Group's corporate logo uses "Rising Mark" sign. The background color is trad green, fresh green. The “SMBC” name is shown on the right side of the rising mark with white block letters.


Mascot character

In 2014, SMBC Group created an original mascot character called Midosuke, which imitates an
otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes wea ...
. The body of the character is green in color, the neck of it is covered by a scarf with the color similar to SMBC group's rising mark logo. The character was designed by Tsuneo Goda (Dwarf Co., Ltd.). Originally, it was used mainly for official LINE accounts but later it has been used as commercials character, face design of cash cards or debit cards, and merchandise for bank customers.


Global operations

SMBC Group has offices in: * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Overseas subsidiaries and affiliates

The overseas subsidiaries and affiliates of SMBC Group are as follows: * European Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation * SMBC Bank EU AG * Sumitomo Mitsui Banking (China) Co., Ltd. * Manufacturer's Bank * Brazil Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation * PT Bank BTPN Tbk * Russia Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation * Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Malaysia * SMBC Capital Markets Company * UK SMBC Nikko Capital Markets Company * SMBC Aviation Capital * SMBC Lease Finance Company * SMBC Rail Services LLC * SMBC Nikko Security America Corporation * SMBC Financial Services Company * SMC Cayman Elsie Limited * S.F.V.I Company * SMBC International Finance N.V. * SMC Leasing Investment LLC * SMC Capital Partners LLC * SMBC MV ISPC * SMBC DIP Limited * SMBC Derivative Products Limited * SMBC Capital India * Sumitomo Mitsui Finance Dublin * Sakura Finance Asia


Acquisitions


SMBC Nikko Securities

The history of SMBC Nikko Securities can be traced back to Nikko Cordial Corporation, which was the
holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...
for Nikko Cordial Securities. The company was Japan's third largest brokerage until 2008, when Nikko Cordial Corporation became a wholly owned subsidiary of
Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking ...
; upon completion of share exchange, it merged with Citigroup Japan Holdings Ltd. to form Nikko Citi Holdings Inc., before changing its name to Citigroup Japan Holdings Corp. in 2009. In October 2009, all of the operations of Nikko Cordial Securities and certain businesses of
Nikko Citigroup is a financial services firm in Japan. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup Japan Holdings Corp., the main Japanese holding company of American financial firm Citigroup. Nikko Cordial and Citigroup first established a joint venture ...
, such as the domestic stock and bond underwriting business among others, were sold to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, before being reorganized into a new subsidiary company, SMBC Nikko Securities Inc., in April 2011. SMBC Nikko Securities becomes investment banking arm of SMBC group and offers equity and debt financing, trading, and merger and acquisition advisory services worldwide with the main base in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
.


SMBC Aviation Capital

SMBC Aviation Capital, formerly RBS Aviation Capital, is one of the world's largest
aircraft leasing Aircraft leases are leases used by airlines and other aircraft operators. Airlines lease aircraft from other airlines or leasing companies for two main reasons: to operate aircraft without the financial burden of buying them, and to provide tempora ...
companies. Headquartered in the International Financial Services Centre in Dublin and with locations in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
,
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
,
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
,
Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
,
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
,
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
,
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
,
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
,
Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
,
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
and
Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...
, the company employs 160 people. In 2012, the company was acquired by the Japanese consortium of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing Company Limited (SMFL) and
Sumitomo Corporation is one of the largest worldwide ''sogo shosha'' general trading companies, and is a diversified corporation. The company was incorporated in 1919 and is a member company of the Sumitomo Group. It is listed on three Japanese stock exchanges ( ...
for US$7.3 billion which was the largest ever global sale of an aircraft leasing business. The sale completed on 1 June 2012 and the business was renamed SMBC Aviation Capital. The company currently has a portfolio of 453 aircraft (273 owned and 180 managed) with a further 203 aircraft on order from
Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...
and
Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...
, made up of a mix of A320neos, A320-200s, B737-800s and B737 MAXs. It has more than 150 airline customers in over 50 countries worldwide, including a range of traditional carriers alongside start-up airlines. Its strategy is to own and lease technologically advanced, efficient and frequently-used aircraft types. SMBC Aviation Capital maintains a young fleet with an average weighted age of 4.7 years. The company has a BBB+ rating from Fitch. The company is now in its 15th year in business. In July 2016, the company completed a debut US$500 million unsecured notes offering, which was eight times over-subscribed.


Bank BTPN

Bank BTPN focuses on serving the mass market segment consisting of pensioners, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), productive poor communities; consuming class segment; and the corporate segment in
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
. By 2019, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) officially owns 96.9% of PT Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Negara Tbk (BTPN) shares. This is an increase from the previous ownership which was only 39.92%. The gain in the portion of SMBC shares in BTPN is in line with the acquisition of additional shares of 3.33 billion or around 56.98% conducted in January 2019. The shares transaction was carried out at IDR4,282 per share. Post acquisition, the entity was merged with SMBC's subsidiary in
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
. In a summary of the proposed merger of BTPN and Bank Sumitomo Indonesia, the total assets and total equity of the merged bank reached a total IDR 178 trillion and IDR 26.92 trillion respectively, using financial position as of May 31, 2018. Upon the merger, BTPN became the 8th largest bank in Indonesia by total assets.


Bank of East Asia

SMBC has an ownership in Bank of East Asia (BEA). In 2015, the bank increased its investment in BEA by approximately HKD 6.6 billion, bringing SMBC's shareholding in BEA to 17.50% from 9.68% previously.


Digital banking


IC cash card

An IC cash card is a single cash card that can be used with three method of identification: biometric authentication, IC chip or magnetic stripe, by setting the limit and registering biometric information (finger vein pattern). With this cash card, the security of usage improved since transactions relies on IC chip recording data and the pattern of past transactions that combined IC chip recording data and biometric authentication. As of 2017, SMBC issued IC cash cards at the bank's counters (only applicable to ordinary design deposit cash cards; cards of other designs and non-savings accounts are not eligible for immediate issuance).


Blockchain

Several
Blockchain A blockchain is a type of distributed ledger technology (DLT) that consists of growing lists of records, called ''blocks'', that are securely linked together using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a ...
-related initiatives also has been implemented by SMBC. The bank is planning to implement the use of R3's Marco Polo trade finance blockchain, the international blockchain trade finance network, on a commercial basis by the end of 2020.


Artificial Intelligence

SMBC has been an early adopter of AI in its banking operation. It is the first Japanese bank to use
IBM Watson IBM Watson is a question-answering computer system capable of answering questions posed in natural language, developed in IBM's DeepQA project by a research team led by principal investigator David Ferrucci. Watson was named after IBM's founder ...
since 2014 to support operators at its call center. AmiVoice, a voice recognition solution provided by SMBC, transforms inquiries into text on a real-time basis as a speech recognition system, while IBM Watson gives customers responses taken from service manuals and Q&As, thereby allowing digital operators to provide timely and correct answers to callers.


Environmental policy and record

In 2006 SMBC was among the first Japanese Bank to adopt the
Equator Principles The Equator Principles is a risk management framework adopted by financial institutions, for determining, assessing and managing environmental and social risk in project finance. It is primarily intended to provide a minimum standard for due dili ...
, an international set of social and environmental standards for financial institutions launched in 2003. The bank updated its policy to exclude the funding of ultrasupercritical coal power. SMBC has involved in funding renewable project finance worth three trillion yen globally. As one of the leading players in finance for offshore
wind power Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wi ...
and
solar energy Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating), and solar architecture. It is an essenti ...
generation, SMBC has been funding renewable power plant projects with a total capacity of more than 10 GW by 2018. Since 2016, the bank has supported 44 project finance deals in
renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
area. The projects consist of 20 solar energy, 17 wind energy, 3 Geothermal Energy, 2 Hydropower, 1 Biomass 1 Submarine power cable, 1 waste-to-energy in
the Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...
,
Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
,
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
, and
Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologica ...
. However, international environmental groups have criticized SMBC for failing to adhere to its social environmental standards, because SMBC is still involved in the financing of coal projects such as the Vung Ang 2 and Nghi Son 2 coal power station in
Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
. In December 2019, a research released at
United Nations Climate Change conference The United Nations Climate Change Conferences are yearly conferences held in the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). They serve as the formal meeting of the UNFCCC parties (Conference of the Parties, ...
named SMBC Group among the top three private lender to coal developers between January 2017 and September 2019. SMBC also involves as one of lead arrangers for a massive oil pipeline under construction in Uganda and Tanzania. The construction of East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline is a part of a push to open oil fields around
Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...
’s Lake Albert to international markets, which will be connected to the port of Tanga in
Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
. The required investment value is estimated at US$3.5 billion. With 1,443 kilometres of length, it will be the longest heated pipeline in the world. International organizations warned the environmental risks to fresh water sources including
Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after ...
, which supports the livelihoods of more than 30 million people in the region. Having said this, news reported that SMBC is to reconsider its prolific funding of coal-fired plants, the first of the nation's major banks to do so.


Sponsorships

SMBC and Singapore Open have a title sponsorship deal since 2016, making the Singapore top golf tournament commercially known as SMBC Singapore Open. The Singapore Open is a
golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...
tournament in Singapore that is part of the
Asian Tour The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf tour in Asia except for Japan, which has its own Japan Golf Tour, which is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on the tour count for Wor ...
schedule. The event has been held at Sentosa Golf Club since 2005 and since 2017 has been part of the Open Qualifying Series, giving up to four non-exempt players entry into
The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...
. In April 2015, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation became a Gold Partner (banking category) for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020. Since 2014, SMBC has owned the naming rights for the
Japan Series The Japan Series ( , officially the Japan Championship Series, ), also the Nippon Series, :File:2014_JS_logo.png is the annual championship series in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan. It is a best-of-seven series ...
.


SMBC branch in Tokyo Disneyland

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation is the only bank that has a branch office in
Tokyo Disneyland (local nickname ''TDL'') is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Disney park to ...
and
Tokyo DisneySea is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort located in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, just next to Tokyo. It opened on 4 September 2001, at a cost of 335 billion yen. The Oriental Land Company owns the park, and licenses intellectual prope ...
. The branch is the legacy of
Mitsui Bank was a major Japanese bank from 1876 to 1990. It merged with Taiyo Kobe Bank to form Mitsui Taiyo Kobe Bank (MTKB), which was renamed The Sakura Bank in April 1992. Sakura Bank is now part of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). History T ...
, which was a member of the
Mitsui Group is one of the largest ''keiretsu'' in Japan and one of the largest corporate groups in the world. The major companies of the group include Mitsui & Co. ( general trading company), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Nippon Paper Industrie ...
when Oriental Land was established. Tokyo Disney Resort project was done by
Mitsui Fudosan is a major real estate developer in Japan. Mitsui Fudosan is one of the core companies of Mitsui Group. Corporate structure The company is organized into four divisions. *Office Building Division *Real Estate Solution Services Division *Accommo ...
. The branch office in Tokyo DisneySea has an unmanned ATM section called "
Nihonbashi is a business district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan which grew up around the bridge of the same name which has linked two sides of the Nihonbashi River at this site since the 17th century. The first wooden bridge was completed in 1603. The current ...
Branch Tokyo DisneySea Branch", but staff are still assigned to the "
Urayasu 260px, old Urayasu is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 170,533 in 81,136 households and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Urayasu is best known as the home of the Tokyo ...
Branch Tokyo Disneyland Branch" (store number 593) in Tokyo Disneyland. The operating hours follow normal bank operational time. It was possible to open an account and no limitation of total handled customers, but now it is limited only to
Urayasu 260px, old Urayasu is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 170,533 in 81,136 households and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Urayasu is best known as the home of the Tokyo ...
citizens and related parties. The passbook design and the card design are not different from the one issued by ordinary SMBC's branches and cannot be visually differentiated. Previously, the Disneyland branch office also handled foreign currency exchange. Note, SMBC is not a participating company nor official sponsor of Tokyo Disney Resort. For instance, Disney characters have been used by the Bank of Mitsubishi UFJ as an image character for over half a century since it was adopted by
Mitsubishi Bank was a major Japanese bank that served as the main bank for the Mitsubishi conglomerate/''keiretsu''. It merged with The Bank of Tokyo in 1996 to form The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (now MUFG Bank). The bank's operations date to 1880, when Mitsubi ...
in 1962.


Related event


Yakuza exclusion ordinances

Since 2011, Japan's law regulator put series of efforts to battle organized crime activities in the country. This includes exclusion ordinances that made it illegal to do business with
Yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media, by request of the police, call them , while the ''yakuza'' call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ...
gang members. Methods include that which brought down
Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel Capone (; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the ...
such as checking the organization's finances. In 2013, the
Financial Services Agency The is a Japanese government agency and an integrated financial regulator responsible for overseeing banking, securities and exchange, and insurance sectors in order to ensure the stability of the financial system of Japan. The agency operates w ...
, Japan’s financial watchdog, started investigation of the three mega banks over possible ties to organised crime after Mizuho banking group was accused to lend more than US$2 million to people affiliated with organized crime groups in Japan. The probe also focused on compliance practices and risk management systems of the banks. To step up the effort of dissociation with Yakuza, the Japanese Bankers Association's members, including SMBC Group, started to compile their own lists on Yakuza and other so-called anti-social forces to keep undesirable persons from using their services to perform transactions.


2012 SMBC Nikko Securities insider trading probe

In June 2012, an employee of SMBC Nikko securities was arrested for alleged insider trading due to the suspicion of having leaked information on tender offers. The employee allegedly provided leaked information on tender offers for at least more than 10 firms to a company top personnel and other recipients. One of the information was regarding management buyout bid by a wine trading house, Enoteca Co., before the takeover bid plan was announced in February of when it was listed on the
Tokyo Stock Exchange The , abbreviated as Tosho () or TSE/TYO, is a stock exchange located in Tokyo, Japan. It is the third largest stock exchange in the world by aggregate market capitalization of its listed companies, and the largest in Asia. It had 2,292 listed co ...
's Second Section. The said employee worked for SMBC Nikko on secondment from Tokyo-based Sumitomo Mitsui's banking unit since October 2009. He was the deputy head of investment banking at that time and was loaned from SMBC bank (it is common for employees to be rotated to other divisions of the bank periodically). He became the first banker from a major Japanese brokerage to be detained for suspected insider trading since 2008. He was ultimately convicted by
Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...
District Court in 2013 and charged with prison sentence of 2 years and 6 months. As a consequence of this event, The Tokyo Stock Exchange fined SMBC Nikko Securities 80 million yen (US$1.02 million) for the violation of exchange rules.


Omori branch employee fraud

A former deputy branch manager of the Omori branch illegally operated the foreign currency deposit transaction system from November 2015 to June 2016. The employee was accused of stealing around ¥190 million (US$1.84 million) by manipulating the bank's foreign exchange trading system.


Hugh Rodley bank raid

A group of criminal hackers including Hugh Rodley, security insider Kevin O'Donoghue and
Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develop ...
sex shop owner David Nash were found guilty of an attempted high-tech robbery of £229m from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation's
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
branch in September 2004. Henchmen Jan Van Osselaer and Gilles Poelvoorde were also found guilty of conspiracy to steal. The plot was discovered by Sumitomo Mitsui staff, and no money was stolen. Another accused, Bernard Davies, died before trial.


Bank of East Asia dispute with Elliott Management

Hedge fund activist investor Elliott Management filed a lawsuit against BEA in July 2016 in Hong Kong court over a share placement transaction. Elliott Management, which held 7% of listed shares of BEA, had included majority of the bank's directors, its CEO and chairman in the lawsuit. The transaction in question was on BEA's issuance of new shares to Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp (SMBC) in 2015. Elliott cited "allegations of unfairly prejudicial conduct" and "alleged serious corporate governance failings". In response, BEA applied to have Elliott's petition against them "struck out". This case was heard by Mr Justice Jonathan Harris from 17 to 19 July 2017.


Notable current and former employees

*
Hiroaki Shukuzawa was a Japanese rugby union player and coach, who coached the Japan national rugby union team between 1989 and 1991. As a player, he was capped three times by Japan as a scrum-half, and he also advised the Japan Rugby Football Union. He also h ...
*
Daizo Kusuda is a Japanese politician of the Democratic Party of Japan, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Chikushino, Fukuoka and graduate of the University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a ...
, member of the House of Representatives *
Ichiro Miyashita is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Nagoya, Aichi and graduate of the University of Tokyo, he worked at The Sumitomo Bank from ...
, member of the House of Representatives * Yoshio Kimura, member of the
House of Councillors The is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers. If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget, treaties, ...
in the Japan
Diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...
office *
Laurel Powers-Freeling Laurel Claire Powers-Freeling (née Powers, born May 16, 1957, Michigan, United States) is a British businesswoman also involved in music charities, education-related activities and public service. Early life Powers-Freeling grew up in Bloomfi ...


See also

*
Loans in Japan Personal loans in Japan are provided by three types of providers. First, there are large, traditional banks, with a long history. Their big advantage is the availability of loans and branches of these banks. Loans are also provided by specialized ...
*
List of banks in Japan This is a list of banks in Japan. Central Bank * Bank of Japan Governmental institutions Existing National Institutions * Development Bank of Japan, or DBJ * Japan Finance Corporation, or JFC ** Japan Bank for International Cooperation, o ...
*
Financial services in Japan The industry which has a range of businesses that deal with money like banks, insurance companies, Accounting, accounting companies, finance companies, taxation, investment funds, credit companies, and few government enterprises is called the fi ...
* Japanese financial system


References


External links


Official website (in Japanese)

Official website (in English)
{{Authority control Banks of Japan Mitsui Banks established in 1996 Banks established in 1876 1876 establishments in Japan Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Financial services companies based in Tokyo Japanese companies established in 1996 Sumitomo Group Systemically important financial institutions