Three decades after a bad debt crisis in Japan forced a wave of mergers that created its mega lenders, the focus now is on consolidation in the nation’s $3 trillion regional banking industry.
Several mergers in recent months and cheaper valuations are spurring bets among investors that more deals are on the way among 91AV原创 73 listed smaller banks. The lenders are facing increased competition for deposits as an inexpensive funding source with interest rates rising, and new rivals such as internet-based banks are also growing.
“I don’t think there’s a single regional bank president who isn’t thinking about consolidation,” said Toyoki Sameshima, an analyst at SBI Securities in Tokyo. “It is getting harder to attract deposits and I think that’s one of the changes that would prompt banks to consider consolidation.”
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