SBI Shinsei Bank Returns to Stock Market

Tokyo, Dec. 17 (Jiji Press)--SBI Shinsei Bank made a comeback to the Tokyo Stock Exchange after a hiatus of some two years on Wednesday, in one of the largest stock listings this year.

After fetching the first quotation of 1,586 yen apiece, higher than its initial public offering price of 1,450 yen, the stock rose to as high as 1,680 yen and ended the day's trading at 1,623 yen on the TSE's top-tier Prime section.

Based on the closing price, the market capitalization of the bank, a unit of major Japanese online financial service group SBI Holdings Inc., stood at about 1.45 trillion yen, making the stock listing one of the largest IPOs in Japan this year.

The Japanese bank is expected to play a leading role in the SBI group's "fourth megabank" initiative, designed to promote cooperation with regional banks across the country.

"We plan to speed up investments in growth areas by leveraging our high-quality capital," SBI Shinsei Bank President Katsuya Kawashima told a news conference held at the TSE in the afternoon, discussing the lender's business strategy following its return to the stock market.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]