By Koichi Kuranuki / Yomiuri Shimbun Senior Writer

Major Japanese banking group Resona Holdings Inc. is aiming to step up efforts to attract more individual shareholders. As of March, only 10.1% of the company's shareholders were individuals, while foreign shareholders, which tend to be mainly institutional, accounted for over 50%.

The banking group expects that an increase in the number of individual shareholders will serve to stabilize its stock prices in the medium to long term, as well as encouraging greater use of the company's products and services by creating a base of shareholders who feel a stronger attachment to the company.

Masaaki Yoshimura, who belongs to Resona Holdings' Group Strategy Division, and Toru Hiratsuka, of the Finance and Accounting Division, explained the company's future strategy during an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun.

The following is excerpted from the interview.

The Yomiuri Shimbun: What can you say about the composition of (Resona's) current group of shareholders?

Masaaki Yoshimura: Currently, roughly 10% of our shareholders are individuals, and over 50% are foreigners. The proportion of individuals has been decreasing and the proportion of foreigners has been increasing, and some people within the company have begun asking if this is acceptable. That's why we decided to take action.

Yomiuri: What are specific measures are you taking to increase the number of individual shareholders?

Yoshimura: We have raised our target for the dividend on equity (DOE) --which indicates the ratio of dividends to net assets -- from 3% to 3.5%. It is important for us to reliably achieve this goal, because it shows that we are dedicated to delivering continuous dividend growth.

Yomiuri: What is Resona's approach to dividends and share buybacks?

Toru Hiratsuka: We aim to achieve a total payout ratio of at least 50% and implement share buybacks flexibly, which will also contribute to improving our earnings per share (EPS). Resona has a history of receiving public funds, which has led to the company having an excessively large number of issued shares, so bringing that number down will be a key priority for us.

Yomiuri: What are the expected management benefits of increasing the number of individual shareholders?

Hiratsuka: We are aware of the risks that arise from an excessive stake being held by foreign shareholders. For example, individual investors and institutional investors often react oppositely to stock price fluctuations. Individual shareholders are important to us because they take a medium- to long-term perspective, so they are the ones who will support Resona even when market conditions change.

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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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June 09, 2026 23:21 ET (03:21 GMT)

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