Japanese Banks’ Record Earnings Mask Profit-Growth Prospects
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Japan’s biggest banks, poised to achieve record annual earnings after last year’s stock-market surge, may still disappoint investors as the equity rally fades, leaving them reliant on a lending recovery for profit.
Net income at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. totaled 2.1 trillion yen ($21 billion) in the nine months ended December, company statements show. That’s 91 percent of their combined target of 2.26 trillion yen for the year ending March, which would be the most since the three-megabank regime started with the creation of Mitsubishi UFJ in 2005.