The grim outlook for smaller regional banks, who are suffering as the rural population shrinks rapidly, is prompting some to dive into a new, potentially lucrative line of business that until now was largely taboo: mergers and acquisitions.
In Japan¡¯s traditional banking culture, advising a client to sell a firm was considered unseemly, even rude ¡ª implying that the business had failed.
Yet more small business owners in rural areas are struggling to find successors because their children ¡ª who have often moved to the big cities ¡ª are not interested in taking over. Some of these owners are now being persuaded by the smaller regional banks ¡ª which number about 100 ¡ª that being acquired isn¡¯t such a bad solution.
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