KUALA LUMPUR (July 6): Public Bank Bhd will be collaborating with Saitama Resona Bank Ltd and Kinki Osaka Bank Ltd in Japan to jointly develop business opportunities for their mutual benefit.

In a statement today, Public Bank said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) today with Saitama Resona Bank and Kinki Osaka Bank respectively to establish the collaboration, which will promote and strengthen cooperation between the respective banks.

“The business collaborations with Saitama Resona Bank and Kinki Osaka Bank will further facilitate Public Bank’s customers to benefit from the potential and established franchise in Saitama Resona Bank’s home market, Saitama Prefecture, and Kinki Osaka Bank’s home market at the Osaka Prefecture,” it said.

Saitama Resona Bank and Kinki Osaka Bank are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Resona Holdings, Inc, which also owns Resona Bank Ltd, the fourth largest banking group in Japan that has strong business presence in the greater Tokyo metropolitan area and the Kansai region.

Public Bank and Resona Bank, had earlier established similar business collaboration through an MoU signed in 2013. This collaboration is now being strengthened with these new collaborations with Saitama Resona Bank and Kinki Osaka Bank.

“The business collaborations will strengthen the banking services support to the customers of Saitama Resona Bank and Kinki Osaka Bank, particularly in the markets where Public Bank has strong network presence namely Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka,” said Public Bank.

Saitama Resona Bank has 127 branches in total, with 126 of those in Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, which has a population of over 7.2 million.

Kinki Osaka Bank, on the other hand, has 122 branches in Osaka Prefecture and is in retail banking, focusing on small and medium enterprise (SME) segments and individual segments like residential mortgages and investment trust fund.

Public Bank said the collaborations would allow the banks to leverage upon their respective strengths and expertise and enable them and their respective affiliates to establish and promote to their respective customers appropriate banking products and services in Malaysia and Japan.

This would include cross border banking transactions and services, cross border trade settlements, remittance clearance services, credit verification and referrals, and offshore banking service.

At 3.06pm, Public Bank was trading at RM18.78, down 10 sen or 0.53%, for a market capitalisation of RM72.5 billion.