All but one of the nation's seven major banks are projecting that they will coast to full-year profits in March given stable stock prices and improved corporate sentiment.
According to their reports for the fiscal first-half, released Tuesday, four of the top banks -- Mizuho Financial Group, Inc., Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc., Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group, Inc. and the UFJ Group -- together posted net profit of 880.6 billion yen. They are forecasting an aggregate 1.23 trillion yen net profit for the full business year.
But bank executives warned hard work lies ahead before these profits will be sustainable. Riding a cyclical recovery is different from hacking out profitability, they said.