Japan
LATEST ARTICLES
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As Japan puts an end to the global negative interest rate era, its central bank's QE programme remains in place and may be a model for peers. Investors maintain a bullish outlook on the stock market.
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Stock market reform has not only revitalized the country's capital markets but has also permeated the real economy. Countries like Korea are quickly following suit. Interestingly, China also seems to be drawing inspiration.
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Many factors explain Japan’s renewed allure to global corporate and financial institutions. Inbound FDI is rising, with local stock prices regularly hitting record highs. Is the economy’s long-awaited renaissance a passing phase or here to stay?
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The 34th annual Asiamoney Brokers Poll is a Vox Populi poll that identifies the leading brokerages for equities research, sales and trading in Asia. Voters are institutional investors who represent fund management firms, wealth managers, hedge funds, pension funds, and insurance companies that trade in Asia.
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For underwriting a range of sustainable debt financings and an equity deal over the awards period, Morgan Stanley wins Japan’s best bank for environmental, social and governance this year.
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Resona Group wins best bank for small and medium-sized enterprises this year. It rivals the country’s larger banks in terms of the scale of its loan portfolio to the segment and its commitment to these businesses through various products and services.
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MUFG Bank is Japan’s best bank for corporates after a period of impressive financial achievement. It has made investments to help foster the development of the country’s startup culture and to help improve sustainability among its corporate community.
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After a period that saw the bank achieve solid market share in all core parts of its investment banking business in Japan, Morgan Stanley is named best investment bank in the country this year.
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Despite challenges both domestically and abroad, MUFG Bank has been named Japan’s best domestic bank following a relatively strong financial performance that supports the business's growth.
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Citi is the best international bank in Japan this year after a period of good financial performance and the introduction of changes to improve efficiency and returns.
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Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation has backed initiatives to support the elderly and the young and to improve education among those who struggle to access it in the country. It is named best bank for corporate social responsibility in Japan this year.
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Citi is named best bank for diversity and inclusion in Japan after introducing a range of programmes and benefits for employees with a broad impact.
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Following a notable period of growth for Japan’s largest bank by customers, Rakuten Bank wins the best bank for digital solutions award this year.
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Rakuten needs money – and lots of it – as its mobile telecommunications arm continues to burn cash. But it is running out of things to sell, while its debt profile is miserable.
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Pressure is growing on Japan’s self-imposed caps on government bond yields. Positive rates must be around the corner, but what will that mean for banks and public debt?
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MUFG’s vast balance sheet has the potential to make a considerable difference to Japan’s net-zero ambitions. But the bank won’t be pulling back from polluters, arguing that money needs to flow to where emissions are, not away from them.
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The enormous re-listing of Arm Holdings is unrepresentative in many ways, but it still contains a valuable lesson for those coming down the pipe.
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AsiamoneyOutbound Chinese M&A deal-flow has slowed to a crawl even as inbound activity remains steady. So focus in the region is moving elsewhere: to rising India, steady-and-lucrative Australia and even Japan, where once-bloated conglomerates are streamlining portfolios under intense pressure from activist shareholders.
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The Japanese bank sees Greenhill as the missing M&A piece in its US product offering. Asiamoney speaks to the New York-based CEO of Mizuho Securities US operations Jerry Rizzieri, and US head of investment and corporate banking, Michal Katz, about the bank’s ambitions.
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How on earth, in this environment, did the bank deliver one of its best-ever quarters in Asia?
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Tech-related bank deals can still get away, but investors call the shots now.
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Japan’s biggest banks generally recorded solid performance in the financial year ending March 31, 2022, thanks to their retail and global corporate banking business lines. Of the lot, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group impressed the most, making it Asiamoney’s best domestic bank in Japan in 2022.
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Citi’s global franchise needs little introduction. The same is the case in Japan, where the US bank has been present for 120 years and has built a reputation for offering world-class financial products and services.
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In its 50 years in Japan, Morgan Stanley has showcased how effectively it can navigate challenges and remain impactful as it proves its mettle and expertise to clients.
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Japan’s biggest banks generally recorded solid performance in the financial year ending March 31, 2022, thanks to their retail and global corporate banking business lines. Of the lot, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group impressed the most, making it Asiamoney’s best domestic bank in Japan in 2022.
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Nomura has taken its corporate social responsibility initiatives in Japan and overseas very seriously for a long time. It has been involved in pioneering financial literacy since the 1990s – and it is still a key area of focus.
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Citi’s global franchise needs little introduction. The same is the case in Japan, where the US bank has been present for 120 years and has built a reputation for offering world-class financial products and services.
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Small and medium-sized enterprises in Japan still face a tough business environment: even though the effects of the pandemic have eased somewhat, supply-side limitations, such as a rise in raw material costs and fuel hikes, have added to the pressure.
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Digitalization in Japanese banking took a big leap during the pandemic. As customers had no choice but to go virtual for their banking needs, digital solutions were crucial. With its strategic goal of helping to solve social issues digitally, Rakuten Bank stands out from the pack.
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The 33rd annual Asiamoney Brokers Poll is a Vox Populi poll that identifies the leading brokerages for equities research, sales and trading in Asia. Voters are institutional investors who represent fund management firms, wealth managers, hedge funds, pension funds, and insurance companies that trade in Asia.
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MUFG Bank is investing in its Greater China business, but will its strategy pay off?
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The MUFG Group has increasingly put corporate social responsibility at the core of its operations, making it Asiamoney’s best bank for CSR in 2021.
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The Mizuho group had a difficult 2021. The smallest of the three Japanese megabanks, the firm was plagued by major IT problems. In February 2021, its ATMs swallowed more than 5,000 cash cards and passbooks. A month later, 300 foreign currency money transfers were delayed because of a hardware failure. A few IT glitches later, Mizuho Financial Group’s chief executive Tatsufumi Sakai said he would step down in April 2022.
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Rakuten Bank has a well-defined goal: to make the world a more convenient place by offering high-quality online financial services to clients. In Asiamoney’s latest awards period, it made great progress in meeting its objective, making it the pick for best digital bank in Japan for 2021.
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Morgan Stanley’s investment banking credentials in the US and in Asia are rock solid. The same goes for its franchise in Japan, where it has a unique joint venture with MUFG.
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For an example of a joint venture partnership that has been effective, resilient and performed well, one need only look at the tie-up between US bank Morgan Stanley and Japan’s MUFG.
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Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG), the parent of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp (SMBC), is regarded by many observers as the best run of the three mega-banking groups in Japan. In the past year, it proved its worth time and again, making SMBC Asiamoney’s choice for best domestic bank in Japan for 2021.
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The 32nd annual Asiamoney Brokers Poll is a Vox Populi poll that identifies the leading brokerages for equities research, sales and trading in Asia. Voters are institutional investors who represent fund management firms, wealth managers, hedge funds, pension funds, and insurance companies that trade in Asia.
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Four high-profile businesswomen in Japan are focusing on bringing big changes to the country’s ESG market.
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Consolidation of its regional banks could provide a solution for some of the country’s biggest problems. Can the new prime minister pull this off?
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Japan still lags much of the world it comes to gender equality. But bankers are leading the change.
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When Alberto Tamura became the CEO of Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities in April 2019, he made the obligatory “we’re optimistic about Japan” comment that all new chiefs make. In 2020, though, he proved not just why he’s bullish, but how the banking giant aims to navigate the world’s third-largest economy.
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Japan’s SME sector faces particular difficulties as Covid-19 disruptions collide with an unfamiliar variety of market turmoil.
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The old adage that one should never let a good crisis go to waste sure didn’t elude Hiroyuki Nagai’s staff during these last 12 months of coronavirus chaos.
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Morgan Stanley did an impressive job navigating the financial storm in 2020. That was abundantly clear in September when it officially cemented its spot as the most profitable foreign securities firm in Japan in the fiscal year ending in March. A bevy of deals in which Morgan Stanley participated and trading in hedge funds helped to fend off a challenge by JPMorgan Chase.
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It’s oddly fitting that MUFG Bank would pick a former high school rowing star for its new CEO. Those skills will come in handy considering the rough seas Japan’s financial system will have to navigate in 2021.
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The 31st annual Asiamoney Brokers Poll invited chief investment officers, fund managers and investment analysts to take part. Voters represented fund management houses, hedge fund & private equity firms, insurance companies and wealth management houses in Asia, Europe and North America.
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Japan’s banking system is a tough place to work for ambitious women. But Kathy Matsui shows it is possible to rise to the top.
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The truth is that domestic banking of small and medium-sized enterprises is not a core priority for any of the megabanks – it is to a large extent still served on the ground by regional and local banks – but SMBC shows the clearest sense of direction among the top three.
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Rakuten Bank is shaking up Japanese financial services by doing what people said could not be done: turning cash-loving Japanese towards digital applications, wallets and smartphone apps.
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Notwithstanding the grand ambitions for private wealth management in Japan, it was a tough year for these businesses, all of which saw declines in profitability during our review period in the face of difficult market conditions.
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A few foreign investment banks are smiling in Japan right now, benefiting from a new wave of corporate governance and investor activism that has led to conglomerates starting to hive off non-core businesses and focus on what they are really good at. The result: vibrant M&A opportunities.
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The combination of Morgan Stanley and MUFG, forged from the global financial crisis, has delivered extraordinarily well in Japan, where the two groups formed a surprisingly successful joint venture that has confounded expectations of insurmountable cultural challenges.
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The last 12 months could have been a tricky time for MUFG, with the transition from Nobuyuki Hirano to Kanetsugu Mike in the chief executive and president roles at the group level. But when one meets the two men, one is struck by the similarity: internationally minded and influenced, fluent in English, big thinkers, willing to shake things up.
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Corporate social responsibility and sustainability are central to the Bank of America ethos, from the top executives down to the scrupulously regimented office bin policies. The bank’s drive has one of its most important advocates in Reiko Hayashi, the deputy president for Japan and a long-standing figure in the development of the country’s debt capital markets.
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The 30th annual Asiamoney Brokers Poll invited chief investment officers, fund managers and investment analysts to take part. Voters represented fund management houses, insurance companies, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, hedge funds and wealth managers from around the world.
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Japan's Mizuho is one to watch in the region as it builds on its domestic strength to move into overseas markets.
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The bank's international strategy is on a global scale, but its expansion plan in Asia is the one to watch, as it aims to reshape the region's financial system.
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At the forefront of the trend toward a more environmentally friendly financial system, Development Bank of Japan combines making a profit with a commitment to making an impact for good.
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With its lack of drive and direction, shareholders of the Japanese financial institution look on nervously as the investment bank faces questions about its future.
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Nomura hopes a more efficient structure can help it win private banking business and investment banking mandates on the global stage.
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The Republic of the Philippines returned to the samurai bond market in August, becoming the latest sovereign issuer to tap a yen investor base desperate for yield.
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Expanded rankings and additional categories, including other comparative and bespoke data, are available for purchase. Please contact Mee Ling Lee at meeling.lee@euromoneyasia.com for our data packages.
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The 29th annual Asiamoney Brokers Poll invited chief investment officers, fund managers and investment analysts to take part. Voters represented fund management houses, insurance companies, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, hedge funds and wealth managers from around the world. A total of 6,540 valid individual responses from 3,100 different institutions, including 411 hedge funds, were received.
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Community and social responsibility as the ideal is understood – and practiced – elsewhere isn’t much of a thing in Japan. More nationalistically inclined Japanese bankers argue that such ideals are inbuilt into normal banking and business practice in the country: helping each other is just what Japanese banks do. But many shrug or draw a blank when asked about it, not entirely sure what it is, explaining that it is something for other countries where wealth is less evenly spread than Japan, where 90% of the people identify as middle class.
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Arrive in any medium-sized Japanese town during April and there’s every chance you will be able to join a party. That would be MUFG’s ‘Rise up festa’ initiative – a celebration of and for Japan’s small and medium-sized businesses. It is all about unlocking Japanese creative spirit – and monetizing it.
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Rakuten Bank is the big Japanese bank you may not have heard of. That may be because Rakuten – Japanese for ‘optimism’ – is better known as an e-commerce play, a 20-year-old site widely regarded as Japan’s equivalent of Amazon. But unlike Rakuten’s Hiroshi Mikitani, Jeff Bezos doesn’t (yet) own a bank.
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Is there anything MUFG’s dynamic joint venture with Morgan Stanley in Japan doesn’t do? The short answer appears to be not much.
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From muck comes brass, as the saying goes, and the MUFG-Morgan Stanley joint venture in Japan proves that axiom better than most.
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MUFG & Morgan StanleyFrom muck comes brass, as the saying goes, and the MUFG-Morgan Stanley joint venture in Japan proves that axiom better than most.
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Nobuyuki Hirano’s MUFG is a powerhouse, achieving superlative after superlative: Japan’s biggest bank; its second-largest company (after Toyota); the world’s leading provider of project finance; etcetera etcetera. The list goes on and on.
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CTBC is trying to do what foreign banks have rarely done in Japan – own a successful local firm… Good luck with that.
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Both Japan and China are competing for the right to finance and build new infrastructure worth trillions of dollars in the Philippines and other parts of southeast Asia.
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Japan has been slow to embrace financial technology. While services like Alipay and Paytm have spread throughout Asia, Japan remains a largely cash-based society. Some of the country’s biggest banks are making efforts to change that.