3. Creation of unique trust bank

In October 2013, Société Générale Private Banking Japan became a wholly owned subsidiary of SMBC, and was renamed SMBC Trust Bank Ltd. Despite the relatively small scale of 407.9 billion yen of total assets under management at the time of acquisition, the trust bank had a substantial capacity as a private banking specialist, and added new financial products to SMBC Group. The acquisition made SMBC Group operate a range of trust banking businesses.

In 2014, U.S. financial giant Citigroup decided to withdraw from the Japanese retail financial market, as part of its global business restructuring plans, and proposed to SMBC a transfer of the retail banking business in Japan. Through two competitive biddings, SMBC concluded an agreement with Citigroup on the acquisition of the business by SMBC Trust Bank. In November 2015, SMBC Trust Bank integrated the retail banking business of Citibank Japan to create the new brand PRESTIA, operating three business areas: foreign currency, trust banking, and real estate.