Resona to Spend ¥30 Bil. on AI, IT Personnel over 3 Years; Holding Company Eyes Boosting Customers’ Digital Experience

The Yomiuri Shimbun

1:00 JST, June 9, 2025

Resona Holdings, Inc. will allocate ¥30 billion over three fiscal years starting in April to develop artificial intelligence technologies and foster personnel with digital expertise, President Masahiro Minami said during a recent interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun.

The holding company, whose group includes Resona Bank and Saitama Resona Bank, aims to enhance productivity by introducing generative AI not only to its group’s in-house operations but also its financial products and services for outside parties, Minami said.

Resona Holdings had already announced that it would invest ¥121 billion in the digital field over the three fiscal years through March 2026.

Regarding the ¥30 billion investment, Minami said, “Now is the time that we should make drastic changes in our productivity,” adding, “We’re going to boost these reform.”

Resona Holdings plans to allocate the ¥30 billion to growth investments by excluding costs for system updates and other fixed costs. Generative AI is to be used “as the default” in operations at every group company, Minami said.

Generative AI will also be featured in the group companies’ financial products and services. “We also have to change the customer’s experience [with the group] at the same time,” Minami said.

For the current fiscal year, Resona Holdings has set a goal of increasing its gross profit to over ¥800 billion for the first time in 19 years.

Resona Holdings aims to upgrade its digital services and the loans that its group companies provide to small and midsize firms. For cashless payments, the group currently handles ¥2 trillion mainly through debit cards, but the holding company aims to increase that amount to more than ¥3 trillion as quickly as possible.