Â鶹´«Ã½

author

 
Â鶹´«Ã½
Search
 
August 11, 2026
 

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

Meta

Taiga Uranaka
Kazuyuki Shigemoto, managing executive officer of Daiichi Life Group, said the firm has been approaching dozens of companies that have never issued bonds or only rarely done so to tap the corporate bond market.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 7, 2026
Top Japan insurer urges companies to issue bonds in yield hunt
Daiichi Life Group has been approaching dozens of companies that have never issued bonds or only rarely done so, proposing that it will become a core buyer if they tap the market.
MUFG has posted strong quarterly earnings after lending income rose due to higher domestic interest rates and robust loan demand.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 4, 2026
MUFG profit beats estimates capping bumper quarter for Â鶹´«Ã½ banks
Net income climbed 48% from a year earlier to ?809.4 billion in the three months ended June 30, exceeding analysts¡¯ ?633.4 billion average estimate.
The financial failure of Osaka-based Zentoshin has left 63 creditors with claims totaling ?115.16 billion, according to Tokyo Shoko Research.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 10, 2026
Lenders seek $700 million after Japanese payments firm¡¯s collapse
The financial failure of Osaka-based Zentoshin has left 63 creditors with claims totaling ?115.16 billion.
Zentoshin served around 200,000 shops, many of which rely on early payments to maintain cash flow, raising concerns over their financial stability following the disruption.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 8, 2026
Japanese payment processor¡¯s collapse hits banks and restaurants
Zentoshin, an Osaka-based credit card payment processor, filed for bankruptcy on Monday.
"I want to achieve the goal we set 20 years ago to become one of the world¡¯s top five banks,¡± Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group CEO Junichi Hanzawa said in his first interview since taking the helm.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 7, 2026
MUFG¡¯s new CEO rekindles ambition to claim spot among world¡¯s top five banks
The goal reflects growing confidence within Â鶹´«Ã½ biggest banks, which are forecasting another year of record profits as rates rise and loan demand picks up.
Kenji Miyoshi, CEO of Iyogin Holdings, says investment opportunities have arrived for Japanese government bonds.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jun 15, 2026
Â鶹´«Ã½ top bond-trading regional bank buys JGBs after decade break
Iyogin Holdings started testing the $7 trillion market in April with small purchases of superlong bonds, according to its CEO.
Mizuho Financial Group¡¯s CEO Masahiro Kihara said on Wednesday that he expects the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates in June or July, though any modest hike is unlikely to have a major market impact.
BUSINESS
May 27, 2026
Mizuho CEO floats idea of first outsized BOJ hike since 1990
Masahiro Kihara says whether the BOJ raises rates in June or July is unlikely to have a big impact on the market unless the increase is large.
Nippon Life Insurance, Â鶹´«Ã½ largest life insurer, wrote down ?70 billion ($440 million) in the year ended March 31.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 26, 2026
Nippon Life books its first impairment loss in current bond rout
Nippon Life Insurance, Â鶹´«Ã½ largest life insurer, wrote down ?70 billion ($440 million) in the year ended March 31.
Tatsufumi Shibata, senior official at the Financial Services Agency, says Japanese firms should spend more of their cash on long-term business investment instead of rewarding shareholders.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 25, 2026
Japan regulator urges firms to use cash for growth, not returns
Shifting more of the country¡¯s wealth held by businesses and households to fund expansion is a key pillar of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi¡¯s economic revitalization effort.
Outstanding loans across all Japanese banks increased by 5.4% year-on-year in April, while deposits grew only 1.9%, prompting major banks to work to meet clients¡¯ needs through various funding measures.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 20, 2026
Japan banks face challenge of loan growth outpacing deposits
For decades, deflation kept loan demand tepid and prompted savers to hoard cash. Now the country is seeing an explosion of borrowing, and deposits aren¡¯t keeping up.
Aichi Financial Group President Yukinori Ito (left) and San ju San Financial Group President Gotaro Michihiro announce a plan to merge the two banks at a joint news conference in Nagoya on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 14, 2026
Â鶹´«Ã½ regional bank M&A wave to create ?11.6 trillion lender
Aichi Financial Group and San ju San Financial Group have acknowledged that a shrinking population drove their plans to consolidate.
Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama
BUSINESS
Apr 22, 2026
Japan finance minister to discuss Mythos threat with banks
Satsuki Katayama plans to meet officials from the country¡¯s biggest financial institutions to discuss Anthropic¡¯s latest AI model as early as this week.
Masakazu Osawa, chief executive officer of MUFG Bank, at the company's headquarters in Tokyo on April 17
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 22, 2026
MUFG Bank seeks more acquisitions after $4.3 billion India deal
Nonbank financial companies are potential targets, MUFG banking unit CEO Masakazu Osawa said, without ruling out further forays.
Fukuoka Financial Group has hired 10 people in the past year and plans to recruit another 20 in the period ending March 2028, said Akira Kudo, the company¡¯s head of market operations.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 14, 2026
Â鶹´«Ã½ largest regional bank takes on big names in hiring spree
Fukuoka Financial Group wants to boost its front office staff to around 100 by March 2028 as it looks to expand its ?5.8 trillion investment portfolio.
Nippon Life Insurance's Tokyo headquarters
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 7, 2026
SMFG and Nippon Life discuss $3 billion LBO loan fund
The move would mark a milestone in Â鶹´«Ã½ credit market, where the three biggest banks have dominated lending.
MUFG has about 1,300 staff involved globally in the transaction-banking business.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 2, 2026
MUFG to take on global peers for slice of $1.3 trillion transaction-banking pie
Â鶹´«Ã½ largest lender is looking to capitalize on its competitive strengths in key Asian markets as it strives to catch up with global peers.
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group CEO Toru Nakashima says the banking group is seeking growth without large acquisitions.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 31, 2026
SMFG cools on acquisitions as banking giant sets new profit goal
Â鶹´«Ã½ second-largest lender is aiming for ?2 trillion in profit and a 13% return on tangible equity in three years.
Wakkanai Shinkin Bank¡¯s headquarters in Wakkanai, Hokkaido
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 25, 2026
A tiny bank runs dry of borrowers as Â鶹´«Ã½ population shrinks
Many rural banks are struggling, but for a small credit union in Hokkaido, the situation is extreme.
Yoshitsugu Toba, head of the markets division at Joyo Bank, says he expects the next Bank of Japan rate hike will happen in April, followed by 25 basis-point increases roughly every six months.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 2, 2026
Short-term Japan bonds hold allure for regional bank managing ?2.6 trillion
Joyo Bank is testing the country¡¯s choppy bond market by investing in shorter-term notes to secure higher returns, while avoiding longer-dated securities.
Japanese banks, including Mizuho Financial Group, are trying to boost productivity by adopting artificial intelligence while trying to ease concerns that the technology will take away jobs.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 27, 2026
Mizuho plans to replace 5,000 clerical jobs with AI in 10 years
Â鶹´«Ã½ third-largest lender insists the move is ¡°not a headcount reduction.¡±
America¡¯s cyberforces grapple with cluster of deaths by suicide
The U.S. Cyber Command building (center) stands on the National Security Agency campus at Fort Meade, Maryland.
Many Indonesians named after Japanese anime characters
Some people in Indonesia are named Doraemon, the name of a lead character of the blockbuster anime series with the same title.
Yasukuni Shrine introduces ban on military attire and cosplay
People gather in front of thousands of lanterns on display at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on July 15 during the Mitama Matsuri, one of the capital's largest summer o-Bon festivals.
As countries ban social media for children, Japan mulls a different approach
Data from NTT Docomo¡¯s Mobile Society Research Institute released in June found that 55% of respondents across all age groups said they fiddled with their phones when they had nothing to do, even when another person was in front of them.
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
Â鶹´«Ã½ brewers experiment with a secret ingredient: music
At Smoke Craft, a craft beer brewery in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, music isn't just a background to the brewing process ¡ª it's an ingredient.
As countries ban social media for children, Japan mulls a different approach
Data from NTT Docomo¡¯s Mobile Society Research Institute released in June found that 55% of respondents across all age groups said they fiddled with their phones when they had nothing to do, even when another person was in front of them.
J. League enters new era as league kicks off first fall-spring campaign
Players from each J. League club pose during a kickoff event on Monday ahead of the start of the 2026-27 campaign.
Speaking Japanese at the movies with ¡®Chiikawa¡¯
A "Chiikawa The Movie" poster is seen at Toho Cinemas in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo.
How Â鶹´«Ã½ racehorses find second careers away from the track
TCC Therapy Park is supported financially by racing organizations as well as donations from members of the public.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Disaster relief workers Taichi Kato (left) and Seiji Yoshimura enter the collapsed living quarters at Kyuganji temple in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture.
What Kumamoto revealed about Â鶹´«Ã½ earthquake readiness
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER