Japan Post’s IPO Might Just Shake Up Lagging Regional Lenders
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Putting postal bank in private hands could spur consolidation
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Sale may unleash biggest deposit holder onto lending market
Japan’s regional banks need a little shaking up: There are far too many of them, profits from loans are shrinking, and their customers are disappearing. The enormous privatization of Japan Post coming up next month may just help spur them into action.
State-owned Japan Post Bank Co., one of three companies going public as part of a $12 billion initial public offering next month, currently has restrictions on its business that could eventually be loosened once it’s public, allowing it to make loans and accept higher amounts of deposits than currently permitted. That would put the biggest collector of Japanese savings into more direct competition with the country’s 105 regional banks, which are resisting calls to merge even as their prospects dim…
Japan Post’s IPO Might Just Shake Up Lagging Regional Lenders
