Keeping Dead Clients' Money Proves Challenge for Japan's Banks
- Local Japan banks lose most of $460 billion inherited annually
- Succession business is key to lenders’ survival, Fitch says
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Where there’s a will, there’s a way. That’s what Japanese banks are counting on as they try to keep hold of the $460 billion in wealth left by their customers each year when they die.
With more than a million people dying annually in Japan, smaller banks are losing not only customers but also their savings, as heirs migrate to large cities where the biggest lenders hold sway. Regional banks lose about 60 percent of funds that are subject to inheritance, Fidelity Investor Education Institute estimates.