50 Pct of Japan’s Bank Deposits Held in Greater Tokyo Area

Tokyo, May 19 (Jiji Press)–Bank deposits in Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures accounted for 50.7 pct of all deposits across Japan at the end of fiscal 2025, according to data from the Bank of Japan. The combined deposits in the Japanese capital and Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba prefectures stood at 523,133.9 billion yen as of March 31 this year, highlighting the concentration of bank deposits in the Tokyo metropolitan area. This trend is partly because assets owned by people in local areas are being inherited by their children living in the greater Tokyo area following the deaths of the parents. The financial bases of regional banks may weaken if the gaps in bank deposits held in metropolitan and regional areas widen further. Deposits at Japan Post Bank and shinkin banks are not included in the BOJ data. By prefecture, deposits in Tokyo stood at more than 394 trillion yen, occupying about 40 pct of the national total. Deposits in Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba came to some 53 trillion yen, around 38 trillion yen and about 37 trillion yen, respectively. The combined amount in Tokyo and the three neighboring prefectures stood at 181,763.4 billion yen at the end of fiscal 1998. The amount grew 2.9-fold at the end of fiscal 2025. The balance in Tokyo alone expanded 3.2 times. The Tokyo metropolitan area’s share has been rising year after year since hitting 39.3 pct at the end of fiscal 1998. The rate of increase in bank deposits in regional prefectures has remained low, with Kochi posting the lowest growth of 29.0 pct. The rate stood below 50 pct in Wakayama, Akita and Aomori. By contrast, deposits grew nearly twofold in Miyagi, Hiroshima and Fukuoka. A rise in the number of companies seeking to keep cash at hand in the wake of economic crises, including one caused by the 2008 collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers, also led to the increase in deposits in the Tokyo metropolitan area, home to numerous corporations. Bank deposits will probably be concentrated further in the greater Tokyo area amid declining local populations and the increased use of online banks, which do not have local branches. The importance of banks obtaining deposits, a key resource for lending, has been increasing as interest rates in the country are on the rise. “There are concerns that regional banks will see their operations shrink and competitiveness gaps between major and local banks will widen” following the concentration of deposits in the Tokyo area, Hideo Oshima, a researcher at Japan Research Institute, said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]