(25 June 2012 – Japan) Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings bank is set to invest a massive amount on a European buying spree.Japan’s fourth-biggest bank by market value plans to increase its overseas loans by 32 percent this year to purchase assets from European lenders and provide infrastructure loans in Asia.
Sumitomo Mitsui intends to invest US$11.4 billion (A$11 billion) to attain this aim. Of this amount US$7.5 billion will be lent to foreign customers (including the proposed buyout of assets held by European banks) while the balance will go to Japanese clients operating abroad.
Japanese banks are filling the vacuum in Asia left by European banks who have withdrawn from the region to build- up capital to survive a dangerous sovereign debt crisis that has undermined confidence in the Euro.
Japanese banks including Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. and Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. are acquiring assets and market share from European banks.
“We’ve received a slew of offers for assets from Europe including corporate loans and project financing,” said Shigeki Tanaka, general manager of wholesale business planning for Sumitomo Mitsui.