Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc, one of Japan's top three banks, said Monday its net profit fell 30 percent in the six months to September amid exposure to the US subprime loan crisis. It also booked losses due to its shaky credit card affiliate OMC Card Inc, which it had acquired in July.
The group reported a net profit of 170.59 billion yen (1.54 billion dollars) for the six months to September, down from 243.66 billion yen a year earlier. Late last month it said it had taken a hit of 32 billion yen (280 million dollars) due to its mortgage-backed securities in the US gone sour.
The banking group's exposure to subprime home loans and related securities in the US amounted to about 95 billion yen at the end of the first half after it sold off most of the remaining holdings. The group's operating income slipped 1.1 percent to 353.24 billion yen on revenue of 2.077 trillion, up 13.8 percent. Total credit cost, or cost disposals of bad debt, reached 143.1 billion yen, compared with 58.0 billion the previous year.