A brief video message in English from the head of a small Japanese bank is turning heads, mostly because it’s never been done before.
Gunma Bank posted a clip on its website this week of President Akihiko Fukai extolling everything from the firm’s profit outlook to the hot springs that dot its business area outside Tokyo.
"That’s something no other regional banks have done,” said Toyoki Sameshima, an analyst at SBI Securities, noting small Japanese lenders are starting to attract interest from overseas investors that used to only focus on the nation’s biggest banks.