Sumitomo Mitsui CEO Ohta, who pushed Asia expansion, dies at 65

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group’s chief executive officer Jun Ohta, who pursued an aggressive expansion abroad during his four years at the helm of Japan’s second-largest bank, has died. He was 65.

Mr Ohta died on Nov 25, the Tokyo-based lender said in a statement. The cause of death was pancreatic cancer, a spokesperson said on Nov 27.

Mr Ohta’s well-being attracted attention when he missed an earnings briefing earlier in November, with the bank citing health reasons. Deputy president Toru Nakashima has started with acting duties for the time being, and the company will select and announce a successor in a timely manner, it said.

Having worked in Singapore previously as a mid-level manager, Mr Ohta became an advocate for building full-banking services in key markets in Asia. He often used the phrase “banking is a GDP business” during interviews, meaning the fortunes of the company is tied to the gross domestic product growth of home countries.

To that end, Sumitomo Mitsui picked four Asian nations – Indonesia, India, Vietnam and the Philippines – as focus markets. The bank invested billions of dollars across the region in recent years as growth opportunities at home dwindled due to the country’s slow economic expansion and bouts of deflation.

Recently, however, prices have been rising in Japan, and bank shares have surged on expectations that the central bank may soon scrap its seven-year negative interest rate policy. Mr Ohta was among the first Japanese bank executives to publicly voice the need to prepare for opportunities presented by rising rates.

In March 2023, Sumitomo Mitsui launched a new all-in-one mobile app, trying to attract users with generous rewards programmes. Once Japan’s interest rates start rising, the scale of a bank, including the size of its deposits, will provide a big advantage for its profits, Mr Ohta said at the time. BLOOMBERG