Japan's Eighteenth Bank, Shinwa Bank to postpone merger by 6 months -Nikkei
30/10/2018 01:15
TOKYO, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Japan's Eighteenth Bank Ltd
8396.T and Shinwa Bank have decided to postpone their planned
merger by six months to prepare for a change in the local
calendar with the abdication of the emperor next year, the
Nikkei business daily reported on Tuesday.
The two regional banks, both based on the southern island of
Kyushu, got approval in August from Japanese authorities to
merge after a lengthy review that had sparked a battle between
the antitrust watchdog and financial regulators. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1VF30O
Shinwa Bank, a unit of Fukuoka Financial Group Inc 8354.T ,
and Eighteenth Bank said at the time their merger was expected
to be completed in April 2020.
The Nikkei said the banks decided to postpone the merger by
six months to avoid potential system troubles with the added
workload of making necessary changes to the system with the
change of the imperial era in May next year.
Emperor Akihito is due to abdicate on April 30, 2019.
A Fukuoka Financial Group spokeswoman declined to comment. A
spokesman for Eighteenth Bank declined to comment until a
scheduled update on the merger timing planned by the end of this
month.
(Reporting by Taiga Uranaka
Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)
((taiga.uranaka@thomsonreuters.com; +81-3-6441-1813; Reuters
Messaging: taiga.uranaka.reuters.com@reuters.net))