Japanese banks see profits soar after money printing splurge
DAIWA Securities and Sumitomo Mitsui yesterday both reported huge jumps in earnings in the first quarter of the new financial year, the three-month period in which Japan’s central bank cranked up the printing presses.
Daiwa’s profits came in at ¥57.3bn (£381m), more than 20 times higher than the ¥2.7bn profit in the same period of 2012.
The improvement came as operating revenues at the lender almost doubled from ¥87bn to ¥155bn, far outweighing the 9.6 per cent rise in expenses to ¥121.5bn.
And it expects to benefit more in future from the central bank’s activism.
“The long-lasting tendency toward a stronger yen and weaker stock market has finally reached its historical turning point, preparing the market environment to bring about a large current from savings to investment,” said chief executive Takashi Hibino.
“Political support for this shift, such as the earnest efforts to exit from deflation, can also be expected.”
And Sumitomo Mitsui saw its profits more than double from ¥117.8bn to ¥288.3bn. Its revenues also doubled from ¥1.05 trillion in the first quarter of 2012 to ¥1.22 trillion in the three months to June.