Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc.

Metaplanet acquired former Siiibo Securities, which handles privately placed corporate bonds, for 210 million yen and changed its name to Metaplanet Securities in July; the subsidiary securities firm recounted the two months leading up to the acquisition. On September 29, the Financial Services Agency announced it would support a pilot program using stablecoins for trade settlement, with six companies participating: TradeWaltz, NTT Data, Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking. On September 28, Coinbase announced on X that it will soon offer a service allowing users to open Pokémon card packs on smartphones. On October 2, Metaplanet corrected a total of four documents including previously filed annual securities reports, revising a statement that CEO Simon Gerovich indirectly holds a majority of voting rights in shareholder MMXX Ventures Limited to clarify that he does not hold a majority. On September 30, KDDI, au Coincheck Digital Assets, and HashPort announced they will begin offering the crypto asset wallet αU wallet as a mini app within the au PAY app.

Jefferies Financial Group is expanding its partnership with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation through a Japan-based joint venture expected to begin serving clients in January 2027, while SMBC has increased its equity ownership in Jefferies to almost 20%, making it the company's largest shareholder. The venture will combine SMBC and SMBC Nikko's domestic client coverage, equities, Equity Capital Markets, research and corporate access capabilities with Jefferies' global client network, sector expertise, trading technology and capital-markets capabilities, with the shared goal of building a leading institutional Japanese equities and ECM franchise. The partners will also jointly source and execute Japan-related cross-border mergers and acquisitions and ECM transactions. Jefferies said joint coverage of selected large sponsor clients began in 2024, and its M&A and ECM market share for those jointly covered clients increased more than fourfold, with the partners now expanding joint coverage to larger sponsors globally. Management expects the Japan joint venture to provide a template for other ways Jefferies and SMBC can work together globally, though the venture is not expected to launch until January 2027.

SMBC Nikko Securities and blockchain development company Nethermind announced on October 2 that they will jointly develop a DeFi platform for domestic investors. Uniswap Labs, Base, and the Nyx Foundation will also take part, aiming to build a usage environment compliant with laws and regulations. The development targets are a liquidity provision protocol and a proprietary liquidity pool called "DeFi Gateway," which will incorporate AI-driven asset management functions, anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing measures, and investor protection mechanisms, with completion scheduled for mid-2027. SMBC Nikko Securities will lead dialogue with regulators and provide expertise in compliance and risk management, while Nethermind will lead technical development, including AI and smart contract security. Uniswap Labs will support protocol integration, Base will support deployment on its network, and the Nyx Foundation will advise on market-making strategies and hook design.

Five major banks including MUFG Bank announced on the 30th the mortgage rates to apply in October. For the variable-rate preferential rates used by most borrowers, Resona Bank, Mizuho Bank, and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank raised their rates by 0.25 to 0.62 percentage points from the previous month, bringing Resona to 1.25%, Mizuho to 1.275%, and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust to 1.7%. MUFG and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation left their rates unchanged, but all banks raised their fixed rates. With this revision, variable rates now exceed 1% at all banks, reflecting the rise in the benchmark short-term prime rate following the Bank of Japan's rate hike in June. The Bank of Japan decided on an additional rate hike at its September meeting, and this is expected to be reflected in variable rates going forward. For the 10-year fixed preferential rate, all five banks raised their rates by 0.12 to 0.77 percentage points from the previous month in light of rising long-term interest rates, with MUFG at 3.75%, Sumitomo Mitsui at 4%, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust at 4.965%, Mizuho at 3.6%, and Resona at 4.205%.

Japan's Financial Services Agency announced on September 29 that it has decided to support a proof-of-concept experiment using stablecoins for trade settlement. Six companies will take part: TradeWaltz, NTT Data, Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation. The pilot, running from September for the time being, will link the trade information platform TradeWaltz with a stablecoin infrastructure, examining technical and legal issues with the aim of speeding up trade settlement and making paperwork more efficient. In the experiment, exporting companies will submit export documents to banks on TradeWaltz, and settlement via stablecoin will be triggered by the bank's approval of the purchase of export receivables. The scope will initially be limited to the purchase of export receivables and fund settlement between exporting companies and banks, rather than all settlements across a trade transaction, so that practical issues can be identified within a specific area of operations. The FSA set up its Payments Innovation Project in November 2025, and this experiment is the fourth supported under that project and the fifteenth overall for the FinTech Proof-of-Concept Hub.

Jefferies Financial Group reported fiscal Q3 earnings and revenue that exceeded Wall Street consensus estimates, though the stock slid 3.1% in Monday after-hours trading. GAAP EPS of $1.08 topped the average analyst estimate of $0.99, up from $1.02 in Q2 and $1.01 in last year's Q3, while total net revenue for the quarter ended Aug. 31, 2026, was $2.22B, beating the $2.20B consensus and rising from $2.21B in the prior quarter and $2.05B a year ago. The company also said its alliance with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, also called SMBC, continued to expand, with SMBC increasing its ownership in Jefferies to about 20% as expected to become the company's largest shareholder. Investment banking net revenue of $1.33B grew 10% quarter over quarter and 17% year over year, and capital markets net revenue rose 0.4% quarter over quarter and 11% year over year to $802.2M, while asset management net revenue sank 54% quarter over quarter and 51% year over year to $85.6M. CEO Richard Handler and President Brian Friedman said the Investment Banking and Equities businesses continued to gain momentum, driving quarterly record net revenues in Advisory, total Investment Banking, Equities, and combined Investment Banking and Capital Markets.

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking announced on the 25th that it will expand lending for corporate spending on disaster prevention and climate change measures. As natural disasters caused by climate change, such as heavy rain and floods, increase, the bank aims to support investment in flood-proofing buildings, installing emergency power sources, river improvement, cooling equipment, and developing crops suited to climate change. The bank became the first Japanese financial institution to obtain an opinion from the UK-based nonprofit Climate Bonds Initiative, which promotes such investment, stating that its sustainable finance framework conforms to international standards. This makes it easier for companies to show investors that they are working on disaster prevention and climate change measures if they receive loans through the bank's framework. It also signed a memorandum with the Climate Bonds Initiative together with SMBC Nikko Securities to share knowledge on climate-related standards and evaluation methods and expand the supply of funds to the disaster prevention field. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group aims to handle 50 trillion yen in sustainable finance by fiscal 2029.

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. is in advanced talks to raise its stake in Vietnam's VPBank to about 20%, according to Reuters. The Japanese lender, the banking arm of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, currently holds 15% of VPBank after paying $1.5 billion for that stake in 2023. The two sides aim to close the deal this year but remain divided over valuation, with VPBank seeking a substantial premium to its share price, and SMBC reluctant to match the roughly 40% premium it paid in 2023. SMBC has considered buying the additional shares in the open market rather than through a private placement; at current prices a 5% stake would be worth about $425 million. VPBank is separately discussing a share sale to foreign investors that could raise $700 million to $900 million.

Major Japanese bank stocks rose on Friday as a surge in government bond yields and expectations of more interest rate hikes pointed to improving margins for local lenders. Mizuho Financial, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Japan Post Bank, and Resona jumped between 3.2% and 4.5%, underpinning an over 1% rise in the Nikkei 225. Japanese government bond yields surged this week, with the 10-year rate hitting a 30-year high as rising oil prices fueled concerns over rising inflation and interest rates. Bets on more Bank of Japan rate hikes also underpinned Japanese banks, after the BOJ raised rates by 25 basis points last week and warned of more such moves in the coming months. Japan Post was an outperformer in the group, given that the lender's massive government bond book allows it to earn more on reinvesting at higher yields.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group will introduce its first-ever shareholder benefits program, with a record date of the end of September 2026. The benefits come as a three-part package: V Points, a 1.0 percent premium on three-month time deposit rates, and invitations to sponsored events. To receive them, shareholders must open an Olive account at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and complete an entry procedure. V Points worth 5,000 yen will be given to shareholders holding 100 shares or more for at least one year, while those holding 1,000 shares or more for at least five years will receive points worth 30,000 yen. Those with rights confirmed as of September 2026 will complete procedures using documents mailed around mid-December and receive their benefits from March 2027 onward. The share price is 6,878 yen, with a one-year change of 69.8 percent. Holding 100 shares gives a shareholder benefit yield of 0.73 percent, while the forecast dividend for the fiscal year ending March 2027 totals 180 yen, for a dividend yield of 2.62 percent, bringing the combined total yield to 3.35 percent. On the earnings front, ordinary profit grew 3.2-fold over the five years through the fiscal year ended March 2026, and for the fiscal year ending March 2027 the company plans a 7.4 percent increase in net profit, marking a sixth consecutive year of final profit growth. Its price-to-earnings ratio of 15.38 times and price-to-book ratio of 1.66 times are around average levels within the banking sector.

A syndicate of ten banks will provide $22 billion in financing for chip purchases by Crux AI, a new cloud venture established by Blackstone and Google, a unit of Alphabet. People familiar with the matter disclosed this on the 16th. The banking group includes Goldman Sachs Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Barclays, BNP Paribas, and Bank of Nova Scotia, among others. Crux AI, which was formally launched last week, has secured an initial $5 billion investment from Blackstone, and will receive Google's proprietary TPU chips along with software and various services. The borrowed funds from the banking group will be used to purchase Google-made TPUs, and the loans are expected to be secured by the asset value of these chips and the customer contracts held by Crux AI. The banking group is seeking additional lenders to join in a syndication aimed at spreading risk, and the debt could potentially be refinanced in the future with long-term funding from institutional investors in the investment-grade corporate bond market.

Sena Development Public Company Limited, or SENA, together with Hankyu Hanshin Properties Corporation, has secured a loan of 1,677 million baht from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) to develop three Low Carbon condominium projects under the "COZI" brand. These projects are COZI Srinakarin 38, COZI Ram Intra – Khu Bon, and COZI Taksin – Chom Thong, with a total investment value of approximately 2,170 million baht. All three projects are part of Sena HHP Company Limited, a joint venture between SENA and Hankyu Hanshin. The loan will be used to drive the development of housing that focuses on reducing carbon emissions, aligning with SMBC's policy of supporting sustainable projects. In addition to providing the loan, SMBC also supports through business matching and other collaborations to promote the long-term growth of its clients in Thailand and internationally.

On September 1, 21 major global financial institutions, including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and MUFG, announced plans to establish a new company in late 2026 to support the issuance of stablecoins. The company's name has not yet been decided, and it will initially focus on U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoins, aiming for market launch in the first half of 2027. The plan includes expanding to other G7 currencies such as the euro in the future. Participating banks include Citi, Wells Fargo, Deutsche Bank, UBS, Banco Santander, and Fidelity Investments, spanning 21 banks across North America, Europe, East Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. This represents a doubling of the scope initially announced by 10 banks in October 2025. The use cases will span wholesale, institutional investors, and retail, with applications in cross-border payments and digital asset settlement. Where applicable, the company aims to comply with the U.S. GENIUS Act and the EU's MiCA regulations. With the stablecoin market capitalization reaching $303.7 billion (approximately ¥48.6 trillion), and Tether's USDT holding about 60% of the market, the banking consortium's entry is a move to challenge this oligopoly. From Japan, only MUFG is participating, and the bank plans to jointly issue trust-type yen-denominated stablecoins with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Mizuho Bank, aiming to begin actual transactions during fiscal 2026.

With the upward trend in domestic long-term interest rates continuing, the performance of mid-tier regional bank stocks has been strong, with the structure of expanding interest margins through higher lending rates boosting earnings being valued. Among the 33 sectors on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the banking sector has risen 49.1% since the start of the year, significantly outpacing the TOPIX's 21.9% gain. Among individual stocks, Fukui Bank has risen 2.7 times, Yamagata Bank 2.3 times, and Akita Bank 2.2 times, surpassing the gains of megabanks such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group's 47.6% rise and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group's 38.3% rise. On the other hand, lower-tier regional banks, whose profits are squeezed by higher funding costs due to deposit rate hikes, are lagging behind, and selection is progressing. In the market, the view that "bank stocks = buy" has run its course, and it is seen that investors have entered a phase of carefully weighing the pros and cons of rising interest rates.

Five major banks announced on the 31st the mortgage interest rates they will apply to new loans in September. For floating-rate loans, which most borrowers choose, Mitsubishi UFJ Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation raised their rates by 0.25% from the previous month, bringing their most favorable rates to 1.195% and 1.525%, respectively. The other three banks kept their rates unchanged. This reflects the increase in the benchmark short-term prime rate following the Bank of Japan's additional rate hike in June. For fixed-rate loans, all five banks raised their most favorable rates for 10-year fixed mortgages: Mitsubishi UFJ Bank increased by 0.04% to 3.63%, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation by 0.05% to 3.70%, Mizuho Bank by 0.1% to 3.45%, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank by 0.09% to 4.195%, and Resona Bank by 0.16% to 3.955%.

Japan's top financial regulators are pushing for the creation of a blockchain-based settlement infrastructure for stocks and government bonds. The Financial Services Agency (FSA), the Ministry of Finance, and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will collaborate with local financial institutions starting this summer to develop a plan, which is expected to be completed by early 2027 and could be fully operational in the early 2030s. The main goal is to accelerate settlement from two days to real-time by tokenizing the current account deposits that banks hold at the BOJ on a blockchain. On the same day, about 40 regional and online banks announced a proof-of-concept project for interbank transfers using tokenized deposits, which will begin within this month. This move builds on the July amendment to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA), which classified about 105 cryptocurrencies as financial instruments and set an effective tax rate of approximately 20% on crypto, as well as the establishment of a dedicated crypto and stablecoin division at the FSA and a pilot project by three major banks: Mizuho Bank, MUFG, and SMBC.

SoftBank Group filed an amended shelf registration statement with the Kanto Finance Bureau on the 24th for a corporate bond issuance of around 1 trillion yen. The bonds will have a maturity date of September 16, 2033, making them seven-year notes, with an indicative coupon range of 4.3 to 4.9 percent per annum to be set on September 4. The subscription period runs from September 7 to 16, with payment due on September 17. Eleven firms, including Nomura Securities, Daiwa Securities, and SMBC Nikko Securities, are underwriting the offering.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group is newly introducing a shareholder benefit program this year with September 30, 2026 as the initial record date, and the final cum-rights date is approaching on September 28. The benefit is designed to require an Olive account contract to receive V Points, and was rolled out alongside the two-for-one stock split and a 23 yen dividend increase announced in May. In the most recent first quarter results for the fiscal year ending March 2027, net profit rose 33.0 percent year on year to 501.372 billion yen, and the company plans a full-year figure of 1.7 trillion yen, approaching a record high. To receive V Points worth 30,000 yen under the initial benefit, continuous holding since September 30, 2021 is required, while holding since September 30, 2025 is required for the 5,000 yen equivalent.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group will introduce a new shareholder benefit program starting at the end of September 2026, while Park24 has resumed its shareholder perks for the first time in six years. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group will give 5,000 V Points to shareholders holding at least 100 shares for one year or more, bringing the total yield to 3.33% when combined with the planned dividend of 180 yen per share for the fiscal year ending March 2027. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines will offer ferry discount vouchers to shareholders of record at the end of September, with the total yield reaching 3.71% including dividends. Park24 will resume benefits for its Times Car car-sharing service from the fiscal year ending October 2026, with the total yield for holders of 100 shares coming to 4.57%.

Mitsuhiro Furusawa, a former Vice Finance Minister for International Affairs and now chairman of the Institute for International Monetary Affairs at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, mentioned the possibility that Japan and the United States could again move to coordinated intervention to correct the historic weakness of the yen. He also said that accelerating the pace of Bank of Japan rate hikes is an option. Regarding the Japan-US coordinated intervention at the end of July, he expressed the view that the United States is wary of the impact on its own interest rates and on US Treasuries, and offered his personal view that Washington wants to avoid rising rates and market turmoil before the midterm elections. On future exchange-rate policy, he said Japan could intervene at any time without limiting itself to levels such as 160 yen or 162 yen per dollar, and that responding with coordinated intervention is fully possible. On Bank of Japan monetary policy, he supported a rate hike in September and noted that even if the policy rate reached 1.25 percent, it would be only slightly above the lower bound of the neutral rate. He indicated that if the economy does not stall, another hike could come into view in December or January, or across the fiscal year, and that ultimately he would like to see the policy rate raised to around 1.50 percent to 1.75 percent.

SoftBank Group Corp. arranged a $10 billion margin loan backed by its ownership in OpenAI. The Japanese technology conglomerate signed the agreement Wednesday with Goldman Sachs Bank USA, JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, Mizuho Securities USA LLC, Apollo Global Funding LLC and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., according to its financial report. The two-year facility will be drawn down this month and used for general corporate purposes across the group and its Vision Fund II-2. The loan includes provisions requiring cash or early repayment if the value of OpenAI's preferred shares declines substantially. This financing follows a $40 billion bridge loan for OpenAI investments that added 21 new lenders during syndication last month, with SoftBank's total planned investment in OpenAI expected to reach approximately $65 billion by October.

The combined net profit of five major Japanese banking groups in the April–June 2026 quarter rose 42.3% year-on-year to 1.9564 trillion yen. The Bank of Japan's rate hikes improved lending margins, while rising stock prices boosted fee income from investment trust sales and other sources. By bank, net profit rose 48.2% at Mitsubishi UFJ, 33.0% at Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, 45.5% at Mizuho Financial Group, 56.6% at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group, and 14.2% at Resona Holdings. All except Resona posted record April–June profits. For the full year ending March 2027, Mizuho and Resona raised their forecasts following the additional rate hike in June, while the other three banks kept theirs unchanged.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group reported consolidated net profit for the April–June quarter of 2026, up 33% year-on-year to 501.3 billion yen. The full-year net profit forecast was kept unchanged at 1.7 trillion yen. The average full-year consolidated net profit estimate among 12 analysts polled by IBES was 1.795 trillion yen.

Real estate asset manager Kenedix is teaming up with Progmat and Datachain to build an infrastructure that allows investors to buy and sell security tokens without going through a securities firm, the Nikkei reported. In a proof-of-concept by the three companies, the issuer and investor directly exchanged security tokens and made payments, achieving instant settlement by simultaneously transferring the securities and funds using stablecoins. Currently, delivery typically occurs two business days after a trade is executed, but the new infrastructure shortens the time funds and securities are tied up, improving capital efficiency for investors. The proof-of-concept used a trust-type stablecoin standard envisioned by Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group for fund settlement, and the plan for commercialization includes support for yen-denominated JPYC and JPYSC, as well as US dollar-denominated USDC, though details such as the launch date and eligible security tokens have not been disclosed. If the infrastructure is put into practical use, it would also enable institutional investors to borrow stablecoins against their security token holdings and use them for other transactions.

Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Mizuho Bank, Resona Bank, and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank began offering preferential interest rates on housing loans, renovation loans, and unsecured loans for victims of the earthquake that struck Kumamoto Prefecture on the 29th. Rates will be reduced upon submission of a disaster victim certificate, and affected businesses will also receive low-interest financing. The Kyushu Local Finance Bureau and the Bank of Japan's Kumamoto Branch have requested that financial institutions allow withdrawals based on identity verification even if passbooks or seals have been lost, and each bank plans to respond flexibly. The Life Insurance Association of Japan and the General Insurance Association of Japan announced that premium payment grace periods will be extended by up to six months, and insurance claim procedures will be simplified.

Japan's 40-year government bond yield rose 10 basis points to 4.01% as investors doubt the Bank of Japan will tighten policy fast enough to curb inflation. The five-year yield climbed to its highest since its debut in 2000, tracking moves in US Treasuries amid higher oil prices that boosted Federal Reserve rate-hike bets. BOJ officials are open to raising rates faster than the consensus among economists, with half of those surveyed by Bloomberg still expecting a December hike. Ataru Okumura, chief rates strategist at SMBC Nikko Securities, said the market is focusing on the BOJ's slow response to rising oil prices, prompting investors to demand a higher premium to hold longer bonds amid elevated inflation risks, and that yields will likely keep rising as fiscal expansion concerns intensify ahead of the government's sales tax cut proposal finalization in early August.

Pure Data Centres Group has secured €1.3 billion in committed senior debt for Phase 1 of its Seinäjoki AI campus in Finland, bringing total financing raised over the past 12 months to more than $4.2 billion. The senior project financing was provided by five mandated lead arrangers—SMBC, ABN AMRO, Citi, Societe Generale, and Natixis CIB—with three of those lenders joining the group during the six-week execution process. Phase 1 of the campus involves a €1.5 billion investment for a 110-megawatt AI facility that is already fully leased, while the full site is capable of scaling to a more than €7.5 billion, 550-megawatt-plus campus. The latest round follows a $2.7 billion financing package announced in May, which included a $2.15 billion facility backed by Pure DC’s Dublin and Amsterdam campuses and an increase in corporate-level financing to $550 million.

Nvidia is widening its reach across Japan's largest industries. During a visit to Tokyo, CEO Jensen Huang announced partnerships covering robotics, health care, banking, manufacturing, automobiles, quantum computing and gaming. Japanese companies including FANUC, Sony, Hitachi, Kubota and SoftBank plan to work with Nvidia on physical AI models for robots and industrial systems. In health care, several drugmakers are using Nvidia's BioNeMo platform for drug discovery, while Canon and Fujifilm introduced medical imaging systems built with Nvidia technology. Toyota is expanding its work with Nvidia on driver-assistance software, factory simulations and traffic systems, Mizuho and Sumitomo Mitsui are building AI infrastructure for banking, and RIKEN is preparing Blackwell-powered supercomputers for scientific and quantum research.

Canal Road Group has secured an equity commitment from SMBC that will unlock up to $225 million in additional investable capital for its direct lending strategy. The commitment increases CRG's total investment capacity to $2.3 billion, inclusive of financing, and gives SMBC a passive minority stake in the firm. It builds on an existing relationship that includes a $350 million asset-based lending facility, expandable to $500 million, which CRG uses to finance its private credit portfolio. Since launching its private credit platform less than two years ago, CRG has deployed nearly $1.2 billion of commitments to corporate credit borrowers. The firm is led by Mike Damaso and Don Young, who previously grew CBAM Partners to more than $15 billion in assets under management before selling it to Carlyle in 2022.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unveiled a broad slate of AI products, partnerships, and customer deployments at the company's Japan AI event in Tokyo on July 15. The announcements spanned physical AI, healthcare, financial services, quantum computing, automotive, manufacturing, and gaming, highlighting Nvidia's push to position its technologies at the forefront of Japan's next-generation AI infrastructure. In physical AI and robotics, Nvidia launched Cosmos 3 Edge for on-device vision reasoning, and companies including FANUC, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Kubota, NEC, SoftBank, Sony Group, and Yaskawa Electric plan to join the Nvidia Cosmos Coalition to develop open physical AI models. In healthcare, Astellas Pharma, Eisai, Daiichi Sankyo, Ono Pharmaceutical, and Takeda Pharmaceutical are deploying Nvidia BioNeMo for AI-powered drug discovery, while Canon and Fujifilm introduced Nvidia-powered next-generation CT systems, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries is advancing AI-enabled surgical and hospital robots. In financial services, Mizuho Financial plans Japan's largest on-premises AI factory for banking, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial has deployed an AI factory through Japan Research Institute, and Rakuten Bank is developing AI transaction foundation models using Nvidia Agent Toolkit. Huang emphasized that the next wave of AI will be physical AI—robots, factories, vehicles, and industrial systems that can perceive, reason, and act in the real world—and said Japan's leadership in robotics, manufacturing, and precision engineering positions it to play a leading role in this transition.

Seven & i Holdings is considering selling a sizable stake to SoftBank and PayPay, a move that could end its standalone strategy and bring new technology, payments and customer reach into the business. The retailer may issue several hundred billion yen in new shares, according to Bloomberg. SoftBank, PayPay and Sumitomo Mitsui are reportedly aiming to reach an agreement this summer, although talks remain fluid and could still fall apart. The partnership could connect Seven & i with PayPay rewards and SoftBank's mobile customer base, potentially lifting store visits and spending, while also supporting automation, AI-driven logistics and lower operating costs. However, new shares would dilute earnings per share and return on equity unless the partnership generates enough growth to offset the impact.

Bloomberg has reported that SoftBank, the major mobile carrier under SoftBank Group, and payment service PayPay have entered talks to invest hundreds of billions of yen in Seven & i Holdings, the major convenience store operator. There is also a proposal for Sumitomo Mitsui Card, under Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, to invest. SoftBank and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group declined to comment, while Seven & i stated, "There is nothing we can explain at this time, and we refrain from commenting."

SMBC Group has promoted 50 colleagues to Managing Director across its international operations in the Americas, EMEA, and Asia Pacific. The promotions reflect the firm's continued investment in leadership and global growth across corporate and investment banking and sales and trading. The 2026 international Managing Director class spans a range of roles aligned with SMBC's long-term strategy, with a focus on delivering for clients, strengthening execution, and advancing technology capabilities. The rigorous evaluation process recognizes individuals for consistent performance, leadership, and contributions to SMBC's strategic priorities.