8. Enhancing our investment banking business

Based on the medium-term management plan, the Investment Banking Unit carried out a number of strategies, including collaboration with Daiwa Securities SMBC, a partner of the former Sumitomo Bank. When the merged bank opened, the partnership was relaunched so that the two companies could refer each other’s customers as appropriate according to the sector best suited to deal with their specific needs, including for bond and stock underwriting and IPO project management as well as banking services. Under the new plan, this business framework was enhanced principally by expanding M&A advisory services to provide hostile takeover defense strategies and by consolidating the sections that handled derivatives to centralize operations in the relevant department.

Also, SMBC implemented an array of initiatives, such as expanding syndicated loan eligibility, developing MBO/LBO (Management Buyout/ Leveraged Buyout) finance operations in and outside of Japan, and promoting proprietary investments in private equity funds and mezzanine funds. Additionally, the bank advanced into new markets ahead of other banks, such as trust businesses (as a financial institution concurrently operating in the trust business, for which SMBC obtained the necessary license in October 2002) for liquidation of loan claims, carbon emission credits trust, and intellectual property trust.