By Yuma Ikeshita / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

Japanese megabank group Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. is planning to invest about 1 trillion yen in generative AI and other aspects of information technology over the next three fiscal years starting in April, according to sources.

It will be one of the largest investments conducted by a major domestic financial institution in the IT field. SMFG aims to significantly reduce time spent on clerical tasks by utilizing AI, and reallocate the freed-up time to sales activities.

The financial group plans to incorporate these investments into a three-year management plan that starts in fiscal 2026 and will be announced in spring. In addition to generative AI, SMFG will increase spending on such matters as updating its core system that manages transactions related to deposits and loans, as well as measures against cyberattacks. Total investment in the IT field from fiscal 2023 to fiscal 2025 is expected to reach about 800 billion yen.

By utilizing generative AI, SMFG intends to reduce time spent on creating loan proposals -- which sometimes takes a full day -- to as little as one or two hours. The bank will also introduce an AI agent, which will autonomously handle various tasks such as responding to customer inquiries.

At Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. -- a group subsidiary -- sales staff spend only a little over 30% of their working hours interacting with customers. The financial group aims to increase the figure to more than 50% by utilizing AI. This move could lead to new customers being acquired and improved customer satisfaction.

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This article is from The Yomiuri Shimbun. Neither Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch, Barron's nor The Wall Street Journal were involved in the creation of this content.

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December 05, 2025 04:12 ET (09:12 GMT)

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