Nobuyuki Hirano, president at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) said in early 2018 at the presentation of its annual results that MUFG is “in a lull now” and “need[s] to convert to a model that increases the lending balance and boosts earnings”. But growing loans portfolios alone is unlikely to solve the problem, because of stringent capital adequacy restrictions.
Among other Japanese mega-banks, Mizuho Financial Group has seen a decline in income over the past three years and mixed pre-tax profit results, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group’s CEO has vowed to diversify business to boost earnings. Hungry for growth, Japan’s three biggest banks by assets have turned to investment in businesses abroad.
