The government made about 1 trillion yen in profit from the return of public funds by the three megabanks after Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. on Tuesday joined two others in completing buybacks of shares held by the government.
By paying back the money, SMFG, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. now have a free hand to manage their businesses and they are becoming increasingly aggressive, re-entering overseas markets, banking industry officials say.
The government provided some 6.65 trillion yen in public funds to the three megabanking groups in 1998 and 1999 to stabilize the country's financial system and help banks dig out from under a pile of bad loans.