The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Mizuho Corporate Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. plan to increase their workforces in Asia by a total of more than 500 employees by the end of March to handle growing business opportunities in the region, sources close to the matter said Monday.

The three major Japanese banks had already boosted their combined number of employees in Asia from about 8,900 in March 2007 to around 11,900 by March this year, corresponding to around 18 percent of their total workforces. The banks plan to boost the figure further to around 12,430 by next March through personnel realignment and recruitment of new workers. The planned personnel increase follows a combined boost of around 340 employees a year earlier.

Through the move, the Tokyo-based lenders are aiming to cope better with Japanese companies' growing appetite for launching businesses in Asian countries as well as increasing demand for funds for use in resource development projects and infrastructure construction in the region.

As part of its efforts to offer fine-tuned financial services in Asia outside of Japan, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ in January set up a section in Shanghai, China, specializing in investment banking and co-financing operations. It is also accelerating efforts to use its local workforce in a more effective way, such as by promoting local personnel to higher-ranking posts in China and Hong Kong.

Mizuho Corporate Bank, the Mizuho Financial Group's investment banking unit, also set up in Shanghai in April a section in charge of business with Chinese and Taiwanese companies. The bank has also been making efforts to strengthen its overseas personnel training by setting up job training sections in Shanghai and Singapore.

Sumitomo Mitsui, meanwhile, established a section in Singapore in May that manages its Asian investment banking operations in an integrated manner and placed staff in Indonesia who specialize in trade financing operations. "It is the correct strategy for them to focus their management resources on growing markets amid a tough earnings environment in Japan," said Akira Takai, chief analyst at Daiwa Securities Capital Markets Co. (The Mainichi Daily News)