Sumitomo Mitsui to Create Securities Business in Indonesia

(Bloomberg) -- Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. wants to add securities, credit card and consumer finance operations to its existing commercial banking presence in Indonesia, the lender’s President Jun Ohta said.

The new services are part of plans to create a “financial conglomerate” in the Southeast Asian country, Ohta said Thursday in an interview on Bloomberg Television. Sumitomo Mitsui owns Jakarta-based PT Bank BTPN, which it bought in 2013.

Plagued by low interest rates and weak business prospects in Japan, Japan’s second-largest bank is hoping to make fast-growing Asian markets its second home by offering banking services to both retail and corporate clients. Sumitomo Mitsui has also been expanding in mature economies through acquisitions in leasing and buyout financing.

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Overseas countries provide the “engine for growth” for Sumitomo Mitsui, since it’s hard to boost top-line revenues in Japan, according to Ohta. The bank has a two-pronged strategy of buying assets in developed countries that improve its return on equity, and adding platforms for the wider business in emerging markets such as Indonesia.

Ohta named the Philippines, Vietnam and India as other developing markets where the bank may expand.

To contact the reporters on this story: Yvonne Man in Hong Kong at yman9@bloomberg.net;David Ingles in Hong Kong at dingles@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Marcus Wright at mwright115@bloomberg.net

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