日本利率上升正为京都金融集团株式会社提供更多理由，将其约60亿美元的交叉持股账面收益兑现。
Japan’s rising interest rates are giving Kyoto Financial Group Inc. more reason to cash in on some of its $6 billion in paper gains on cross-shareholdings.
“我们正进入一个可以通过将这些股份变现并放贷来赚取更多收益的时代，”该地区性银行总裁土井伸弘在京都总部接受采访时表示。“我们应该重新考虑我们的战略性持股。”京都金融长期持有古都的多家大型日本公司的股份，包括任天堂株式会社和京瓷株式会社。这使得该银行在交叉持股的长期传统中受到关注——银行与企业相互持股以巩固关系。
“We’re entering an era where we can make more money by turning those shares into cash and lending it out,” Nobuhiro Doi, president of the regional lender, said in an interview at its headquarters in Kyoto. “We should reconsider our strategic shareholdings.”Kyoto Financial has long held stakes in large Japanese companies based in the ancient capital, including Nintendo Co. and Kyocera Corp. That’s put the lender under the spotlight in the long-held tradition of cross-shareholdings, where banks and businesses own pieces of each other to cement ties.
日本当局一直在敦促银行逐步淘汰这一做法，以改善公司治理。直到最近，京都金融对这些呼声仍持保留态度，土井两年前曾表示，他希望保留这些股份，因为这些公司仍有进一步增长的潜力，不过他的立场在去年开始出现动摇。
Japanese authorities have been urging lenders to phase out the practice to improve corporate governance. Until recently, Kyoto Financial was reluctant to heed those calls, with Doi saying two years ago that he wanted to keep the stakes given the potential for the companies to grow further, though his position started to thaw last year.
如今，利率上升为减少持股提供了另一理由。过去，当贷款需求疲软且利率接近零时，股票分红用于支撑收益，但随着净利差扩大，这部分收入的相对价值正在下降。出售持股所得的资金将为银行提供更多放贷空间或进行并购的余地。“环境已经改变，我们必须接受这一点，”现年70岁的土井说。
Now, rising interest rates are adding another rationale to reduce them. While stock dividends used to shore up earnings when loan demand was weak and rates were near zero, that income is losing its relative value now as net interest margins widen. Proceeds from selling stakes would give the bank room to lend more or pursue acquisitions. “The environment has changed, and we have to accept that,” Doi, 70, said.
日本央行预计本周晚些时候将把政策利率维持在31年来的最高水平1.25%。但经济学家和交易员预计央行将在12月再次加息，且随着通胀显现，明年可能继续上调。
The Bank of Japan is widely expected to hold its policy rate at a 31-year high of 1.25% later this week. But economists and traders expect the central bank to hike again in December, with further increases likely next year as inflation takes hold.
今年4月，京都金融承诺在2029年3月前削减超过3000亿日元的战略性持股。这一规模是此前减持目标的三倍，而土井表示公司还可以更进一步。在截至今年3月的财年中，该公司出售了约1600亿日元的持股，包括部分任天堂股份，而由于日本股市上涨，剩余持股的价值增长更快。
In April, Kyoto Financial pledged to cut more than ¥300 billion of strategic shareholdings by March 2029. That’s triple the size of a previous reduction target, and Doi said the company can go even further. In the fiscal year ended March, it sold about ¥160 billion of shareholdings, including a part of its Nintendo stake, while the value of the remaining holdings increased faster thanks to a rally in Japanese stocks.
截至6月底，该集团战略性持股的未实现收益总额超过1万亿日元，与其自身市值相当。京都金融的股价今年上涨了18%，表现不及东证银行指数的34%涨幅。
Unrealized gains on the group’s strategic holdings totaled more than ¥1 trillion at the end of June, similar to its own market capitalization. Shares of Kyoto Financial have gained 18% this year, underperforming the Topix Banks Index’s 34% advance.
“有一段时间，无论我们卖了多少，我们的未实现收益都在不断增加，”土井说。“这是我们应当感恩的事情，但我不明白为什么我们会因此受到批评。”土井表示，他去年开始与京都金融持股名单上约15家顶级公司的首席执行官和董事长进行接触。他说，所有这些人都对银行减持股份的计划表示理解。
“For a while, no matter how much we sold, our unrealized gains just kept increasing,” Doi said. “It’s something we should be grateful for, but I wonder why we get criticized for it.”Doi said he started engaging with the CEOs and chairmen of about 15 top companies on Kyoto Financial’s shareholding list last year. All of them have shown understanding of the bank’s plans to sell down the stakes, he said.
这并不意味着它会一次性全部抛售。土井表示，该银行将从纯投资的角度对个别持股采取审慎态度。“如果股息很低，或者根本没有股息，那么就很难证明持有这些股份是合理的，”他说。
That doesn’t mean it will offload everything at once. Doi said the lender will adopt a critical approach to individual stakes from a pure-investment perspective. “If the dividend is low, or there is no dividend at all, it becomes quite difficult to justify holding the shares,” he said.
京都金融的持股中还包括日本电产株式会社，这家电机制造商深陷会计丑闻。土井拒绝就此置评。
Also among Kyoto Financial’s shareholdings is Nidec Corp., the motor maker that has been mired in an accounting scandal. Doi declined to comment on the matter.
投资者正密切关注京都金融将如何使用售股所得。土井在4月成立了一个团队，研究通过收购实现增长。他表示，竞争对手地区性银行、网络银行和其他金融机构都是潜在目标。他补充说，投资银行已提出了一系列方案，但公司目前并未推进任何具体交易。
Investors are closely watching how Kyoto Financial will use the proceeds from share sales. Doi set up a team in April to study growth through acquisitions. Rival regional lenders, online banks and other financial firms are all potential targets, he said. Investment banks have made a range of proposals, but the company isn’t working on any specific deals now, he added.
京都金融集团（Kyoto Financial）并不需要急于加入近期地区银行整合的浪潮，土井表示，但他同时补充说，“这个选项始终在我们脑海中，我们一直关注其他银行在做什么。”它的两家同行正在洽谈合并，这笔交易可能使它们成为关西地区最大的地区银行集团，超过京都金融集团。知情人士称，千寿池田控股（Senshu Ikeda Holdings）和滋贺银行（Shiga Bank Ltd.）最早可能于本周发布公告。
Kyoto Financial doesn’t need to rush to join a recent wave of regional bank consolidation, Doi said, while adding that the “option is always in the back of our minds, and we’re always interested in what other banks are doing.”Two of its peers are in talks to merge in a deal that could make them the biggest regional banking group in the Kansai region, surpassing Kyoto Financial. Senshu Ikeda Holdings and Shiga Bank Ltd. may make an announcement as soon as this week, people familiar with the matter have said.
随着家庭寻求将更多储蓄用于投资，日本银行正面临日益激烈的存款竞争。土井表示，银行担心政策制定者若采取行动，为个人购买日本政府债券提供税收优惠，将进一步抽走家庭资金。
Japanese banks are facing intensifying competition for deposits as households look to invest more of their savings. Doi said banks are concerned that a potential move by policymakers to offer tax breaks to individuals to buy Japanese government bonds would further siphon away household money.
“这不可想象，”土井说。他表示，即使没有税收激励，“它们现在已经卖得足够好了”。
“It’s unthinkable,” Doi said. “They’re already selling well enough now” without tax incentives, he said.
该银行在本财年上半年销售的零售日本国债较上年同期翻了一番。“真正能与它们竞争的产品非常少，这让银行处境艰难，”他说。
Retail JGBs sold by the bank in the first half of this fiscal year doubled from a year earlier. “There are very few products that can really compete with them, which makes things difficult for banks,” he said.
全球投资者正在关注日本金融机构是否会随着收益率上升而回归日本国债。但土井表示，该银行正将资金投入贷款而非债券，以满足小型制造商等企业借款人的强劲需求。
Global investors are watching whether Japanese financial institutions will also return to JGBs as yields climb. But Doi said the bank is putting its money in loans rather than bonds, to meet strong demand from corporate borrowers such as small manufacturers.
京都金融集团上一财年大幅削减了其证券投资组合，当时它实现了国内债券的亏损。截至6月底，其证券持有量约为1.7万亿日元，低于2025年3月的约2.5万亿日元。
Kyoto Financial drastically cut its securities portfolio last fiscal year, when it realized losses on domestic bonds. Its securities holdings stood at roughly ¥1.7 trillion at the end of June, down from about ¥2.5 trillion in March 2025.
他表示，一旦对日本央行政策利率的峰值有更清晰的判断，该银行将考虑重新投资国内债券。
The bank will consider reinvesting in domestic bonds once it has a clearer sense of where the Bank of Japan’s policy rate peaks, he said.
“我们可能最终又会坐拥未实现亏损，”他说。“目前，我们仍需等待。”
“We could just end up sitting on unrealized losses again,” he said. “For now, we still need to wait.”