SMBC was formed by the merger of The Sumitomo Bank and Sakura Bank in April 2001. Sumitomo Bank was a major Japanese bank founded in 1895; Sakura Bank was a descendant of Mitsui Bank, another major Japanese bank founded in 1876, but with operations dating back to 1683, when the Tokugawa Shogunate granted Mitsui Takatoshi permission to act as a money changer.
In April 2001, Sakura Bank and Sumitomo Bank merge to form Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. (Capital stock: ¥1,276,7 billion). Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) establishes a holding company named Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG) through a share transfer, SMBC becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of SMFG in December 2002 and witnessed Wakashio Bank (established June 1996) merge with SMBC in the end of 1st quarter next year.
On July 2008, Sumitomo Mitsui buys a 2.1 per cent stake in Barclays Bank for £500m. In the beginning of 2nd quarter, a group of criminal hackers including Hugh Rodley, security insider Kevin O'Donoghue and Soho sex shop owner David Nash are found guilty of an attempted high-tech robbery of £229m from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation's London branch in September 2004. Henchmen Jan Van Osselaer and Gilles Poelvoorde were also found guilty of conspiracy to steal. The plot was discovered by Sumitomo Mitsui staff, and no money was stolen. Another accused, Bernard Davies, died before trial.
7 years later in the March of 2015, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation bought HKD $6.58-billion (JPY 105-billion, USD $849-million) of new Bank of East Asia shares, raising SMBC's stake in the Hong Kong lender to 17.5% from 9.7%.
Today, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) is a Japanese multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Yurakucho, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group. SMBC is the second largest bank in Japan by assets.