Morioka, Iwate Pref., Oct. 2 (Jiji Press)–Procrea Holdings Inc., Bank of Iwate and Akita Bank, regional lenders in northeastern Japan, said Friday that they will launch talks to combine their operations in April 2028, a deal that would create a regional banking group ranked around 10th in the country. Procrea, the parent of Aomori Michinoku Bank, Bank of Iwate and Akita Bank aim to expand their operations across prefectural borders to strengthen their business foundations as they struggle with a shrinking market due to a declining population. They plan to integrate their operations under a holding company that is expected to be based in Morioka, the capital of Iwate Prefecture. As of the end of March this year, Procrea in Aomori Prefecture had 5,845.4 billion yen in assets, Bank of Iwate in Iwate Prefecture 3,913.7 billion yen and Akita Bank in Akita Prefecture 3,576.8 billion yen. At a joint press conference in Morioka, Bank of Iwate President Toru Iwayama said that they plan to combine operations as banks face “more diverse and complex” challenges including the spread of artificial intelligence. Akita Bank President Kosuke Ashida said, “We will bring out the respective strengths of the three banks in a spirit of mutual trust and equal partnership.” Aomori Michinoku Bank President Keitaro Ishikawa said that the combination would “strengthen financial resilience to continuously address regional challenges.” Regional banks in Japan are increasingly pursuing cross-prefectural consolidation to expand customer bases because of shrinking populations and amid an intensifying race to increase deposits. Shizuoka Financial Group Inc. in Shizuoka Prefecture and Bank of Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture reached a basic agreement in March to combine operations. Gunma Bank in Gunma Prefecture and Daishi Hokuetsu Financial Group Inc. in Niigata Prefecture are scheduled to integrate operations in April 2027. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
