Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Daiwa Securities are studying a merger of their respective asset management units in a bid to become more competitive.
Sumitomo Mitsui and Daiwa aim to streamline their business to make the asset management operations more competitive, according to a report by «Nikkei Asian Review» (behind paywall). A merged asset management business may start operations as early as in the first quarter of 2019.
The unification would involve Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management and Daiwa SB Investments. As of March 31, 2018, the combined assets managed by the Tokyo-based firms stood at $47.5 billion.
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The proposed move is in line with cost-cutting measures from Japan's mega-bank groups who struggle to cope with low interest rates and the growing influence of non-bank fintech services.
Sumitomo Mitsui aims to ramp up the use of artificial intelligence in order to reduce the volume of administrative work, which could lead to a reduction of its workforce by 4,000.
Similarly, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ plans to reduce its volume of administrative work, a development it says may make as much as 30 percent of the bank’s domestic workforce, or 9,500 employees, redundant.
