TOKYO -- The Sumitomo Mitsui group is finally following the lead of its megabank rivals and shifting from a bank-centric structure to one focused on the holding company, underscoring an urgent need to work on such long-standing weaknesses as securities and trusts.
At a shareholders meeting June 29, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group President Koichi Miyata had outlined a plan to change the group's management structure in 2017 to give the holding company more authority. "We need to separate execution and oversight in a way that's easily understandable to foreign investors and authorities," he said. The group will rework an ownership structure now centered on Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.
