Yoshifumi Nishikawa, a former chief of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. who spearheaded a major shakeup of Japan's banking sector in the early 2000s, has died, sources said Friday. He was 82.

Nishikawa was one of Japan's most well-known bankers and had a reputation as a strong leader with bold ideas. In 2005, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi selected him to oversee Japan Post's privatization process, which began two years later.

At the time, the Japan Post group had some 240,000 employees and its banking unit was the world's largest deposit holder.