Co-creating a new era from the Tohoku region with local communities while its Singapore office will become a local subsidiary

Headquartered in Sendai, the “City of Trees,” 77 Bank is the largest regional lender in Japan’s northeastern Tohoku, with numerous clients and branches across the entire region. Founded in 1878 and fondly nicknamed “Shichi-shichi,” a shortened form of 77 in Japanese, the bank has a long tradition and strong ties with local communities.

The bank is focused on supporting the overseas expansion of industries such as Tohoku’s thriving manufacturing and food processing sectors. According to AOKI Kazuhiro, managing director of the bank, “Amid the rapid decline in Japan's population, overseas expansion, particularly in ASEAN, which is attractive in terms of consumer markets and human resources, has drawn significant interest from our clients. We recognize that expanding our overseas network to support the global expansion of companies in Tohoku is a vital mission for us as a regional financial institution.”

In addition to representative offices in Singapore and Shanghai, the bank is bolstering its overseas network through partnerships and personnel exchanges with financial institutions and other organizations in ASEAN. A key milestone is the Singapore Representative Office, which opened in 2016 and is now transitioning into a local subsidiary.

“Preparations are underway to establish the subsidiary in January 2025, and to launch operations in April that year. By turning it into a local subsidiary, our consulting functions will be strengthened, allowing us to meet the diverse needs of our clients.”

A symbolic example of its strengthening partnership with JBIC is co-financing provided to the Vietnamese subsidiary of Endo Manufacturing Co., Ltd., a Yamagata City precision machine parts manufacturer. “In the case of Endo, through collaboration with JBIC, we gained both knowledge of specific Vietnamese regulations and expertise in cross-border loans. We can now apply this valuable experience to the many other Vietnam expansion projects our clients are examining.”

Beyond Vietnam, clients are increasingly interested in Indonesia, which is projected to experience significant population and economic growth. In October 2024, the bank dispatched personnel to an Indonesian consulting firm for the first time.

“When you go abroad, you can sense that each region has a different ‘smell,’ based on its history, culture, and customs. I believe it is difficult to do business in a region without understanding this kind of background. We will work to support the overseas business development of our clients by continuing to accumulate local information and expand networks, through deploying personnel to various overseas locations.”

77 Bank, which has been building a history that spans generations, will work together with local communities to co-create a new era from the Tohoku region.