Sumitomo Bank was established as a private enterprise in November 1895 and reorganized as a limited company with 15 million yen of capital in March 1912. It opened overseas branches during the World War I era as the Sumitomo
zaibatsu business became more international. By 1929, Sumitomo Bank had 8 offices outside of Japan and its colonies, more than any of its commercial banking peers though less than the
Yokohama Specie Bank,
Bank of Chōsen and
Bank of Taiwan for which foreign trade was part of a public-interest mandate under special legislation. After World War II, the
Sumitomo group was dismantled and its constituent companies were forbidden from using the Sumitomo name, triggering the rebranding to Osaka Bank that was however reversed in 1952. Sumitomo was the main bank for several major Japanese manufacturers during the early postwar era, including
NEC and
Panasonic (Matsushita). However, the Ataka and Mazda bailouts enhanced Sumitomo's industry reputation by showing its dedication to customers. It became the largest Japanese bank by deposits until the merger of Dai-Ichi Bank and Nippon Kangyo Bank to form
Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank. Sumitomo incurred major losses during the collapse of the
Japanese asset price bubble in the 1990s. In 1993, it wrote off 100 billion yen in bad loans, and in 1994 its Nagoya branch manager was murdered in possible connection with a bad debt collection. In 1995, it posted the first net loss of a major Japanese bank in the postwar era. In 1999, amid intensifying competition as other Japanese and foreign banks consolidated, Sumitomo announced its merger with
Sakura Bank to form
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. The merger created the world's third-largest banking group at the time, after
Deutsche Bank and the pending merger that would form
Mizuho Bank. Sumitomo's
SWIFT code was "SMITJPJT." ==Notable alumni==