Shizuoka Financial Group, Inc.

Aomori Michinoku Bank, Iwate Bank and Akita Bank have decided to enter talks toward a management integration. The move comes as a shrinking population, the burden of system investment tied to the spread of artificial intelligence, and intensifying competition to win deposits and borrowers in an era of positive interest rates all weigh on their businesses. Cross-prefecture realignments are multiplying across the country: Fourth North Financial Group, which is based in Niigata Prefecture, and Gunma Bank plan to integrate in 2027, while Shizuoka Financial Group and Nagoya Bank aim to merge around 2028. The emergence of cutting-edge AI models, which has heightened the need to defend against cyberattacks, is also spurring consolidation. Keitaro Ishikawa, president of Aomori Michinoku Bank, said at a news conference on the second that going it alone feels like an extremely heavy burden. Still, Aomori Michinoku Bank was itself only created in January last year through the merger of Aomori Bank and Michinoku Bank, once rival regional lenders within the prefecture, and voices in the industry said they hope the talks do not end up like those between Aichi Financial Group and Sanju Financial Group, which broke down almost immediately.