TOKYO: Japan’s Shinsei Bank will provide its know-how to promote regional revitalization in a joint project with other financial institutions, President Hideyuki Kudo has said.

“We can help local companies start new business and revitalize their operations” in the project to launch a new company for regional revitalization, Kudo said in a recent interview.

The bank’s partners in the project are online financial services firm SBI Holdings Inc., the government-held Development Bank of Japan and a regional bank group.

“Shinsei Bank can provide its know-how on business succession and smooth business closure,” Kudo said.

He unveiled a plan to create an online system to allow companies in various regions to get advice from specialists in Tokyo, where such human resources are concentrated.

“It’s difficult for small companies and startups (outside Tokyo) to secure personnel for internal management and finance,” Kudo said.

Meanwhile, he denied the possibility of investing in any regional bank, keeping a distance from SBI’s initiative to create the country’s “fourth megabank” by uniting regional banks through capital alliances.

In order to allow its employees to work flexibly, Shinsei Bank will promote teleworking even after the coronavirus crisis ends, according to Kudo.

“Working for three days a week in the office and two days at home would be a well-balanced way of working,” he said.

JIJI Press