Japan's effort to nudge its more than 100 struggling regional lenders into the digital age is floundering. More than a year after rules to spur open banking were issued, small lenders are stuck in a back-and-forth with startups over fees for access to client account ...

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. named Hironori Kamezawa as chief executive officer on Friday, turning to a math expert to help Japan's biggest bank forge a path in the digital era. Kamezawa, 58, will take the top post on April 1, the Tokyo-based bank said ...

Masayoshi Son's bankers are taking a hard look at their most important client. After the costly rescue of office-sharing startup WeWork and a series of other high-profile setbacks for Son, senior executives at two of Japan's biggest banking groups have said privately they've grown less ...

Yoshitaka Kitao wants to build a financial empire in an area shunned by investors: the downtrodden ranks of Japan's regional banks. The chief executive officer of SBI Holdings Inc. says he has close to $1 billion to plow into any of the 104 local lenders ...

Japan's long-suffering savers have put up with virtually zero interest for years, but at least their bank accounts have remained free. That may now change, as speculation mounts over the possible use of further monetary stimulus. Lenders could begin imposing maintenance fees for retail deposit account ...

One of Japan's biggest regional banks is resuming an expansion overseas, 20 years after the country's financial crisis forced it to retreat. Concordia Financial Group Ltd. plans to expand in Asia to offer cash management services to its Japanese corporate clients and infrastructure loans to ...

The nation's regional banks have long been relegated to the sidelines in one of the most lucrative corners of the lending market while regular loans got gradually less profitable. Now some are fighting back. Shizuoka Bank Ltd. has lined up a network of 40 local lenders ...

When Tatsufumi Sakai was named chief executive and president of Mizuho Financial Group this year, many bankers and investors were surprised. The low-key book lover represented a sharp contrast with Yasuhiro Sato, his bold, charismatic predecessor, who was vocal about his ambitions for Japan's second-largest ...

The nation's top financial regulator said regional banks "should not blame the Bank of Japan" for their woes, urging them to explore ways to survive ultralow interest rates. "They should not just sit and wait for the BOJ to change its policy. Will everything be ...