Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Banking Corporation

SMBC was formed by the merger of The Sumitomo Bank and Sakura Bank in April 2001. Sumitomo Bank was a major Japanese bank founded in 1895; Sakura Bank was a descendant of Mitsui Bank, another major Japanese bank founded in 1876, but with operations dating back to 1683, when the Tokugawa Shogunate granted Mitsui Takatoshi permission to act as a money changer.

• April 2001: Sakura Bank and Sumitomo Bank merge to form Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. (Capital stock: ¥1,276,7 billion)
• December 2002: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) establishes a holding company named Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG) through a share transfer, SMBC becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of SMFG.
• March 2003: Wakashio Bank (established June 1996) merges with SMBC.
• July 2008: Sumitomo Mitsui buys a 2.1 per cent stake in Barclays Bank for £500m.
• April 2008: A group of criminal hackers including Hugh Rodley, security insider Kevin O'Donoghue and Soho sex shop owner David Nash are found guilty of an attempted high-tech robbery of £229m from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation's London branch in September 2004. Henchmen Jan Van Osselaer and Gilles Poelvoorde were also found guilty of conspiracy to steal. The plot was discovered by Sumitomo Mitsui staff, and no money was stolen. Another accused, Bernard Davies, died before trial.
• March 2015, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation bought HKD $6.58-billion (JPY 105-billion, USD $849-million) of new Bank of East Asia shares, raising SMBC's stake in the Hong Kong lender to 17.5% from 9.7%.