(27 August 2012 – Japan) Japan’s megabanks are dominating world lending, with the largest three loaning a record US$515 million (A$493 million) overseas.Thomson Reuters said the trio; Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group were among the top four lead managers of global syndicated loans in the first half of this year.
An executive at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation said European banks hit by the debt crisis are cutting back on their lending globally, and Japanese banks are exploiting this decline.
Japan’s three megabanks extended overseas loans amounting to US$515 billion in the first half, which is some US$12.7 billion higher than at the end of March 2009.
In this second quarter, Sumitomo Mitsui reported that 34 percent of its loan-derived profits came from overseas countries and regions. This was higher than its goal of 30 percent for the current fiscal year.
With low domestic interest rates, Japanese banks have become especially active in financing large-scale, long-term funding of infrastructure and other industrial projects. One estimate says US$8 trillion will be required for infrastructure development in the growing Asian region through 2020.