Shinsei Bank and Aozora Bank said Wednesday they have reached an agreement to merge in October next year to create Japan's sixth-largest banking group with total assets of over ¥18 trillion.
The two loss-making lenders largely owned by U.S. private equity investors set the merger ratio at 1-to-1, with Shinsei to be the remaining company. The new bank will have Norito Ikeda, 61, former president of Ashikaga Bank, as its first president, they said.
The two banks have suffered huge losses amid the global financial crisis and aim to restore their financial health and turn around their business through the merger.