Tag - banks

 
Menu
Search
 
July 12, 2026
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

BANKS

Mizuho Financial Group is seeking an equity capital market license and plans to bolster its stock underwriting team in Seoul to capitalize on South Korea’s booming semiconductor market, said Joris Dierckx, head of banking for Asia-Pacific.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 10, 2026
Mizuho targets South Korea, India hires to join top dealmaking ranks
The bank aims to become Asia’s top investment bank in as soon as five years, mainly by strengthening its equity underwriting and M&A advisory operations.
Zentoshin served around 200,000 shops, many of which rely on early payments to maintain cash flow, raising concerns over their financial stability following the disruption.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 8, 2026
Japanese payment processor’s collapse hits banks and restaurants
Zentoshin, an Osaka-based credit card payment processor, filed for bankruptcy on Monday.
Bank loans in Japan rose 6.3% in June from a year earlier, the strongest growth since August 2020, according to a Bank of Japan report released Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 8, 2026
Japan’s bank lending rises fastest since COVID-19, backing BOJ’s path
The figures reinforce the central bank’s assessment that financial conditions remain accommodative even after Gov. Kazuo Ueda’s board raised its benchmark interest rate last month.
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank will subscribe to new capital and have a director on New Zealand-based infrastructure investor Morrison’s board, the two firms said in a statement Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 8, 2026
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust inks $2 billion partnership with Morrison
The new strategic partnership aims to provide Japanese customers access to fresh investment opportunities.
"I want to achieve the goal we set 20 years ago to become one of the world’s top five banks,” Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group CEO Junichi Hanzawa said in his first interview since taking the helm.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 7, 2026
MUFG’s new CEO rekindles ambition to claim spot among world’s top five banks
The goal reflects growing confidence within Japan’s biggest banks, which are forecasting another year of record profits as rates rise and loan demand picks up.
Over the past three years, Singapore has overtaken Hong Kong as the top destination for Taiwanese offshore wealth.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 2, 2026
‘In case of emergency’: Taiwan’s rising rich flock to Singapore
The city-state has overtaken Hong Kong as the top destination for Taiwanese offshore wealth over the past three years.
Japan spent ¥11.7 trillion ($73 billion) between late April and late May to prop up the weak yen.
BUSINESS
Jul 1, 2026
Why is the yen so weak and what can Japan do about it?
The yen has tumbled past a 40-year low against the U.S. dollar, prompting the Japanese government to vow “appropriate action at any time.”
Mizuho Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group propelled foreign-currency bond sales by Japanese companies to a record.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 30, 2026
Mizuho and SMFG fuel record Japanese corporate bond sales overseas
The surge in issuance in overseas currencies is in part being fueled by the depreciating yen, which slid to its weakest level against the dollar since 1986 this week.
MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking and other lenders have agreed to extend the maturity of about ¥75 billion ($463 million) in loans to Godiva Japan by nine months.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 30, 2026
Godiva’s Japan lenders agree on 9-month loan extension
The chocolate maker posted a net loss of about ¥30 billion for the year ended December 2025.
Japanese regional banks are rolling out loans backed by companies' growth potential and other intangible assets instead of real estate or personal guarantees.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 29, 2026
Japanese banks offer loans secured by future growth potential
The system is designed to make it easier for companies to get loans without putting up land, factories or other assets as collateral or individual managers as joint guarantors.
Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto has pushed for an increased role of the government, including expanding the economic power of its sovereign wealth fund Danantara.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 29, 2026
Prabowo risks prompt global banks to pull cash out of Indonesia
Some banks decided to curb exposure to Indonesia as they became increasingly concerned over the country’s policy direction that has dented foreign investors’ confidence.
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Economy
Jun 24, 2026
BOJ summary affirms rate hike stance as inflation risks mount
The summary came out as the yen remained close to the weakest level since 1986 against the dollar amid growing bets on the Federal Reserve raising rates this year.
Barclays’ markets business in Japan includes rates, foreign exchange and structured credit.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jun 23, 2026
Barclays weighs return to cash equities in Japan as market booms
Barclays has been hiring equities specialists in Tokyo.
Godiva Japan, which was taken over by Asian private equity fund MBK Partners in 2019, owes about ¥75 billion ($464 million) by the end of this month, according to people familiar with the matter.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 23, 2026
Godiva Japan said to seek extension on $464 million leveraged buyout loan
Godiva Japan, which was taken over by Asian private equity fund MBK Partners in 2019, owes about ¥75 billion ($464 million) by the end of this month, according to informed sources.
People walk past the Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as Big Ben, during a march marking 10 years since Britain voted to leave the European Union and calling for closer ties with Europe, in London on Saturday.
BUSINESS / Markets / FOCUS
Jun 21, 2026
After the fracture: how Britain’s financial industry recovered from Brexit
Signs the British financial industry has weathered Brexit better expected: Employment in London’s financial district is near an all-time high and banks are posting record profits.
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking is discussing a significant risk transfer to offload risks linked to about $1.8 billion of lending for infrastructure projects.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 19, 2026
Japan’s SMBC weighs SRTs on $5.8 billion of project and Latin America loans
Banks use significant risk transfers mainly to increase their capacity for new lending or shareholder payouts by shifting risks on loan tranches to investors.
Kenji Miyoshi, CEO of Iyogin Holdings, says investment opportunities have arrived for Japanese government bonds.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 15, 2026
Japan’s top bond-trading regional bank buys JGBs after decade break
Iyogin Holdings started testing the $7 trillion market in April with small purchases of superlong bonds, according to its CEO.
SMBC, part of Japan’s second-largest banking group, became the top shareholder of India's Yes Bank with a 24.9% stake last year.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 12, 2026
SMBC-backed Yes Bank sees Indians tip-toeing back to deposits
Bank credit in India grew 16.2% in the year through May 15, the fastest pace since June 2024, according to central bank data, while deposits rose 12.2% over the same period.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei speaks during the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in January.
BUSINESS
Jun 11, 2026
Japan financial firms to join NEC-Anthropic AI collaboration
The partnership aims to improve the quality of financial services for customers using AI and to strengthen measures against cyberattacks.
Manatomo Yoneyama, president of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank, speaks during an interview at the bank's headquarters in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on May 22.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 9, 2026
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust mulls up to ¥380 billion in digital investment
The bank also plans to spend ¥30 billion to optimize its operations and reposition some 900 employees to client-facing roles.
China’s demand for Soviet-style apartments shows limits to revival
Apartments built during a Soviet Union-inspired construction drive in the 1970s and 1980s tend to suffer from poor insulation and outdated plumbing, but they are seeing a revival in interest due to their attractive locations.
Japanese scientists identify neural mechanism that may explain why we dislike people
The aggressive mouse (left) used in the experiment and a mouse defending itself
Japanese payment processor’s collapse hits banks and restaurants
Zentoshin served around 200,000 shops, many of which rely on early payments to maintain cash flow, raising concerns over their financial stability following the disruption.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
Lenders seek $700 million after Japanese payments firm’s collapse
The financial failure of Osaka-based Zentoshin has left 63 creditors with claims totaling ¥115.16 billion, according to Tokyo Shoko Research.
Japan’s largest exhibition of women photographers rights a wrong in cultural history
Miwa Yanagi’s “Elevator Girl House” series skewers the superficiality of gender roles through staged images.
Over 70% of accommodations in Japan say they are understaffed amid tourism influx
The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached a high of 42.68 million in 2025.
‘Princess Mononoke’ comes alive in Super Kabuki staging
The “Princess Mononoke” adaptation was created under Shochiku’s Super Kabuki initiative, a modern form of kabuki with more technology in staging and open to pop culture collaborations.
The beating heart inside ‘Human Vapor’
Different forms of love and connection form the emotional backbone of Netflix’s “Human Vapor,” says actor Shun Oguri, who plays troubled detective Kenji Okamoto.
Japan bets on character IP to drive global growth
Born on social media platforms in 2022, Opanchu Usagi has become a major hit, especially among Generation Z.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Sompo looks beyond insurance to focus on well-being
Sompo looks beyond insurance to focus on well-being

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER