Kansai Urban Banking kicks off

OSAKA (Kyodo) Kansai Urban Banking Corp. began operations Monday following its inauguration over the weekend through the merger of Bank of Kansai and Kansai Sawayaka Bank.

The regional lender, which replaces the two Osaka-based second-tier regional banks, was inaugurated Sunday. It has a network of 120 branches in Osaka Prefecture and neighboring prefectures, although its restructuring program calls for cutting the number to 100.

Kansai Urban Banking has combined assets of 2 trillion yen, the second-largest among regional and second-tier regional banks based in the prefecture after Kinki Osaka Bank, a unit of Resona Holdings Inc.

Bank of Kansai President Tadahiko Ito assumed the presidency of the new bank at the inauguration, and Kansai Sawayaka Bank President Shuichi Takahashi became chairman of the merged entity.

"As an urban-oriented regional bank, we will strive to help the full-scale revitalization of the economy in Osaka," Ito said.

The new bank plans to unify the computer systems of its branches July 20.

The bank also said it has set up a fund designed to support promising small and midsize businesses in Osaka and other parts of the Kansai region.