The Sumitomo Trust and Banking and Panasonic Corporation have entered into a basic agreement to effect, as of April 1, 2010, a merger of Sumishin Matsushita Financial Services (SMFC), a company jointly invested in by Sumitomo Trust and Panasonic, and STB Leasing (STBL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Trust.
The newly merged company that will be established as a result of lease subsidiary merger will be a comprehensive financial services company that provides a variety of financial instruments, such as leasing, installment sales, credit card and financing, to a wide range of clients of Sumitomo Trust and the Panasonic.
The newly merged entity will aim to evolve and develop into a corporation by merging individual characteristics of banks and manufacturers. In addition to such a diverse client base, the significant characteristics of the newly merged company will be its small-amount leasing and installment sales businesses infrastructure distinctive to manufacturers as well as propose-based sales, high risk-control ability and stable fund-raising capability that are characteristics associated with Sumitomo Trust.
The corporate name of the newly merged company is expected to be “Sumishin Panasonic Financial Services” and the newly merged company will further strengthen its cooperation with the Panasonic group, and actively promote sales financing to support local electrical stores and sales of products of the Panasonic group.
