banks said Wednesday they will merge on an equal footing, possibly in January, to create the nation's eighth-largest shinkin bank in terms of deposits.
The combined deposits of Asahi Shinkin Bank, Edogawa Shinkin Bank, Kyoseki Shinkin Bank and Bunkyo Shinkin Bank were 1.637 trillion yen as of Jan. 31, they said.
Among Tokyo shinkin banks, the merged bank would be second only to Johnan Shinkin Bank.
Shinkin banks are credit associations roughly equivalent to U.S. savings and loans institutions.