In addition, efforts geared toward reducing expenses and expanding fee business also began to bear fruit. Thanks to this reduction in their exposure to credit risk and the market risk pertaining to stock price volatility, financial institutions have been less constrained in the uses to which they can put their capital, and this situation has encouraged them to seek new business opportunities.
Indeed, there has been an intensification of efforts to strengthen profitability and reorganize businesses: banks’ lending attitudes toward small and medium-sized businesses in particular have become more positive; some financial institutions are paying back previous injections of public funds; mergers between financial institutions are becoming widespread; and tie-ups with non-bank institutions are increasing.