5 major banking groups’ April-Sept. profits fall 30%

Jiji Press

17:27 JST, November 15, 2022

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — The combined consolidated net profits of five major Japanese banking groups in April-September fell 29.6% from a year before to ¥1,277.1 billion, marking the first drop in two years, according to earnings reports they released by Monday.

Three of the five groups — Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Mizuho Financial Group Inc. and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. — suffered profit falls in the first half of fiscal 2022.

Mitsubishi UFJ logged a 70% plunge as appraisal losses on bonds held by a U.S. subsidiary it decided to sell last year pushed down its net profit by about ¥560 billion.

Mizuho saw its net profit drop by 13.4% after year-before growth related to share buybacks by a subsidiary.

The two other groups — Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. and Resona Holdings Inc. — enjoyed net profit growth.

Meanwhile, the five groups’ combined profits from core banking operations rose 25.8% to ¥1,532.9 billion.

Mitsubishi UFJ, Mizuho and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial each posted core business profit growth, reflecting brisk demand for funds in Japan and abroad and greater loan margins amid higher interest rates in the United States.

Due to higher U.S. rates, the three megabank groups logged larger appraisal losses on foreign bond holdings. The losses totaled about ¥3.6 trillion at the end of September, up from about ¥2.5 trillion three months earlier.