Big Three Megabanks Act as Main Bank for One in Five Japanese Companies

A Tokyo Shōkō Research survey of 1,568,602 companies across Japan found that 125,942, or 8.03%, had MUFG as their main bank. This is the eleventh consecutive year for the bank to rank first in the survey, which was first conducted in 2013. The second-ranked bank was SMBC, which was the main bank for 99,225 or 6.33% of the companies, followed by Mizuho at 80,424 or 5.13%. These three megabanks boast a solid foundation, but the relative share of each fell year on year. In particular, 196 fewer companies cited Mizuho as their main bank.

The next highest banks according to the survey were Resona (main bank for 39,160 companies), North Pacific (26,014), Chiba (23,747), Fukuoka (22,036), and Nishi-Nippon City (20,680). A total of 34 banks were listed as the main bank for at least 10,000 companies.

The top-ranked shinkin (regional cooperative) banks in the survey were Kyoto Chūō (main bank for 8,643 companies) followed by Osaka City (7,227) and Tama (7,068).

(Originally published in Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)