Resona Holdings Inc., the nation's fourth-biggest bank, joined larger rivals led by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. in posting a nine-month profit gain after lower bad-loan costs helped offset sluggish lending income.
Net income climbed 17 percent to ¥141.2 billion in the nine months ended Dec. 31, from ¥121.1 billion a year earlier, the Tokyo-based lender said in a statement filed with the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The bank maintained its full-year profit forecast of ¥135 billion.
Earnings at Japan's biggest banks have hinged on cost-cutting and bond trading this fiscal year as a 13-month slump in lending crimps interest income. Resona, whose shares have sunk 60 percent in the past year, is trying to woo investors as it repays a ¥1.96 trillion government bailout made seven years ago.
Bad-loan costs declined 65 percent to ¥27 billion in the nine-month period from a year earlier, according to the statement. Resona's income from lending dropped 4.2 percent to ¥362.1 billion, while profit from fees and commissions on mutual funds and other products rose to ¥86.7 billion from ¥83.4 billion a year earlier, the statement said.
Mitsubishi UFJ, the country's biggest lender, last week reported nine-month net income more than doubled to ¥551.8 billion from a year earlier and exceeded the bank's ¥500 billion target for the year ending March 31.
Resona last month said it will raise as much as ¥544.8 billion by selling new shares to help repay taxpayer funds. That amount fell short of an earlier goal of raising as much as ¥600 billion.
The bank's shares have slid 32 percent since reports emerged of the stock sale plan in November, making Resona the worst performer in the 83-member Topix Banks Index. The shares rose 0.9 percent to ¥436 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Monday before the earnings announcement.