Japan's Second-Largest Bank Has to Run Just to Stand Still
- One-off tax effect, negative rates hitting SMFG’s bottom line
- CEO gives 700 billion yen target for fiscal 2020 in interview
Takeshi Kunibe
Photographer: Akio Kon/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
In the era of negative interest rates, Japan’s second-largest bank finds itself having to run just to stand still.
Takeshi Kunibe, who took over as chief executive officer at Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. in April, has set a new net-income target of about 700 billion yen ($6.3 billion) in the year ending March 2020. That’s roughly the same as in the latest 12-month period.