Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, with a 7.2% share of domestic loans and 9.0% of deposits as of March 2024, is one of Japan’s Big Three banking groups. Compared with its two megabank rivals, SMFG has a greater focus on retail customers and small and medium-size enterprises rather than large corporate clients. This has given it a higher average asset yield in Japan, but rival Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group has started to deliver slightly higher returns on total assets and returns on equity than SMFG since MUFG sold off its underperforming Union Bank of California in 2022. Improvements at the third Japanese megabank Mizuho also diminish the gap in profitability that had made SMFG a preferred sector holding for some investors until the pandemic.