Japan's Banking System: The Five Bank Tiers Explained
Japan's banking system groups every deposit-taking institution into one of five practical tiers, from nationwide megabanks down to neighborhood cooperative banks.1 Landing in the wrong tier when you open your first account can mean weeks of extra paperwork, or a bank with no branch anywhere near where you live.
Bank tiers, license categories, and branch networks can change. Confirm current details at the Financial Services Agency (金融庁) or the relevant bank or association's own site.
Overview
These five tiers, megabanks (including Resona), regional banks, shinkin and shinkumi cooperative banks, online-only banks, and Japan Post Bank, are how the banking industry and financial press commonly describe Japan's banking market for orientation purposes.1 Once you know which tier a bank sits in, you can predict its branch reach, its typical customer base, and whether it is realistic to open an account there, before you look at any specific bank or account-opening process.2314
The five tiers in this article are a market-structure convention used across the banking industry and financial press, not the Financial Services Agency's own legal taxonomy. The FSA's own license categories recognize only city banks (都市銀行), regional banks (地方銀行, each under its own association), trust banks (信託銀行), and a catch-all "other" category that groups Japan Post Bank together with every online-only bank.1
The Five Tiers of Japanese Banks
The five tiers differ in reach, ownership structure, and who they typically serve, as the map below shows.
Megabanks and Resona
メガバンク (megabanku, "megabank") is a colloquial media term for three specific banks, Mitsubishi UFJ Bank (三菱UFJ銀行), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (三井住友銀行), and Mizuho Bank (みずほ銀行); it is not an FSA license category.1 The FSA's own license taxonomy calls these three banks 都市銀行 (toshi ginkō, "city bank"), a category that currently holds four banks rather than three, the three megabanks plus Resona Bank (as of 2026-04-01; confirm current figures with the Financial Services Agency).1
Resona Bank is not colloquially called a megabank, but it shares the same formal license category as the three megabanks. Resona Holdings, the group encompassing Resona Bank, Saitama Resona Bank, Kansai Mirai Bank, and Minato Bank, reported consolidated total assets of approximately ¥77.6 trillion (as of 2025-12-31; confirm current figures with Resona Holdings).5
The three megabanks differ noticeably in scale, as their own reported branch networks show (figures current as of each bank's most recent disclosure).
| Bank | Branch network | As of |
|---|---|---|
| MUFG Bank | 415 domestic branches/offices; 100 overseas locations | 2025-03-316 |
| Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) | 455 domestic branches; 20 overseas branches/representative offices | 2026-03-317 |
| Mizuho Bank | approximately 463 domestic locations | 2024-06-308 |
Mizuho's figure could not be independently verified against the bank's own site during research for this article and should be treated as approximate rather than confirmed.8
| Term | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 都市銀行 | toshi ginkō | The FSA's official license category; currently four banks, the three megabanks plus Resona Bank1 |
| メガバンク | megabanku | Colloquial media term for MUFG Bank, SMBC, and Mizuho Bank specifically, not an FSA license category1 |
Regional Banks
The Regional Banks Association of Japan (全国地方銀行協会) currently has 61 member banks, not the approximately 100 sometimes cited by secondary sources (as of the association's current pamphlet and member roster).29 A separate body, the Second Association of Regional Banks (第二地方銀行協会), represents a second, historically distinct tier of regional banks that converted from prewar mutual (sōgo) banks; it has 34 member banks (as of the association's own membership page).10
Adding the Regional Banks Association's 61 members to the Second Association of Regional Banks' 34 members comes to 95, close to the "approximately 100" figure some sources use for "regional banks" as an undifferentiated category. This article's Regional Banks tier refers specifically to the first-tier Regional Banks Association's 61 members, not the combined total of both associations.210
Regional banks are, in aggregate, the largest single tier of Japan's banking system by market share, though city banks hold a larger deposit share individually. As of 2025-03-31, regional banks held 25.1 percent of private-sector deposits and 32.2 percent of private-sector loans, versus 36.3 percent and 29.1 percent for city banks.9
Each prefecture is typically served by one or a small number of named regional banks headquartered there. Yokohama Bank serves Kanagawa and Chiba Bank serves Chiba, for example; which regional bank or shinkin/shinkumi is available to you is simply a function of where in Japan you live, not a procedural variation to navigate.29
The association's 61 members collectively operate 7,856 branches and 28,200 ATMs, and employ 119,632 staff (as of 2025-03-31).9
| Term | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 地方銀行 | chihō ginkō | Regional bank; a first-tier member of the Regional Banks Association of Japan2 |
| 全国地方銀行協会 | Zenkoku Chihō Ginkō Kyōkai | Regional Banks Association of Japan, the industry association for first-tier regional banks2 |
| 第二地方銀行 | dai-ni chihō ginkō | Second-tier regional bank, historically converted from a mutual (sōgo) bank; a member of the Second Association of Regional Banks10 |
Shinkin and Shinkumi (Cooperative Banks)
Shinkin banks (信用金庫) are member-based cooperative financial institutions serving individuals and small and medium businesses within a defined region. They are organized around a nationwide central institution, Shinkin Central Bank (信金中央金庫).114 There are 254 member shinkin banks nationwide under Shinkin Central Bank (as of 2025-03-31).4
Shinkumi (信用組合, credit cooperatives) are a smaller, more tightly membership-based cooperative tier than shinkin banks, organized regionally, by industry, or by workplace.12 There are 143 credit cooperatives nationwide: 101 regional cooperatives, 27 industry-based cooperatives (covering groups such as physicians, dentists, publishers, and bathhouse operators), and 15 workplace-based cooperatives (as of 2025-03-31).12
Both tiers cap membership by business size under currently published rules, though the exact thresholds differ (current as of each association's own rule).
| Tier | Who qualifies |
|---|---|
| Shinkin bank member | A proprietor with 300 or fewer employees, or a corporation with 300 or fewer employees and capital of ¥900 million or less; individuals living or working in the shinkin's service area may also become members.11 |
| Shinkumi, wholesale business | Up to 100 employees or ¥100 million capital13 |
| Shinkumi, retail business | Up to 50 employees or ¥50 million capital13 |
| Shinkumi, service business | Up to 100 employees or ¥50 million capital13 |
| Shinkumi, other business types | Up to 300 employees or ¥300 million capital13 |
| Term | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 信用金庫 | shin'yō kinko (commonly "shinkin") | Regional cooperative bank for individuals and small/medium businesses114 |
| 信用組合 | shin'yō kumiai (commonly "shinkumi") | A smaller, more tightly membership-capped cooperative than shinkin1213 |
| 信金中央金庫 | Shinkin Chūō Kinko | Shinkin Central Bank, the central institution for the shinkin network4 |
Online-Only Banks
Rakuten Bank, Sony Bank, Sumishin SBI Net Bank (住信SBIネット銀行), and PayPay Bank operate with no meaningful physical branch network, delivering services primarily through apps and websites.1 None of them has a distinct license category of its own; the FSA groups them, alongside Japan Post Bank, Seven Bank, Aozora Bank, SBI Shinsei Bank, au Jibun Bank, and others, under the same catch-all "other" bank category (as of 2026-04-01).1
Rakuten Bank, which opened in 2001 as a digital-first bank, surpassed 18 million deposit accounts (as of 2026-03-12).14
Japan Post Bank
Japan Post Bank (ゆうちょ銀行) traces its origin to Japan's postal savings system. It became a licensed ordinary bank on October 1, 2007, when Japan Post Bank Co. received its banking license as part of postal privatization.1
Japan Post Bank's directly-operated retail network is 235 sales offices, organized under 13 area headquarters and 50 partner centers (as of 2025-07-01).3 The commonly cited "about 24,000 branches" figure describes its combined network including post offices where it operates only as a banking agent, not branches it runs itself.
Japan Post Bank's total service-point network, including locations where Japan Post Co. operates as its banking agent rather than Japan Post Bank running the location directly, totaled 23,494 nationwide (as of 2025-03-31).3
| Network component | Count | Operated by |
|---|---|---|
| Head/branch offices | 12 | Japan Post Bank directly3 |
| Sub-offices | 223 | Japan Post Bank directly3 |
| Post offices | 19,802 | Japan Post Co., as banking agent3 |
| Simple post offices | 3,457 | Japan Post Co., as banking agent3 |
| Total | 23,494 | Combined network3 |
Japan Post Bank had 31,172 ATMs nationwide as part of this network (as of 2025-03-31).3
| Term | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ゆうちょ銀行 | Yūcho Ginkō | Japan Post Bank, the banking arm spun out of Japan's postal savings system31 |
| 直営店 / 営業所 | chokuei-ten / eigyō-sho | Japan Post Bank's own directly-operated sales offices, as distinct from post offices acting as its banking agent3 |
| 郵便局 | yūbin-kyoku | Post office; most of Japan Post Bank's nationwide footprint consists of post offices acting as its banking agent under Japan Post Co., not Japan Post Bank's own branches3 |
Which Tier a Foreign Resident Actually Uses
Which tier you end up using usually comes down to how you arrive in Japan and what you need from a bank, more than which tier is objectively best. The map below sketches the tier each common reader archetype tends to land in.
New arrivals commonly find megabanks harder to open a personal account with than other tiers. Megabank paperwork is usually Japanese-only, and many megabank branches informally expect around six months of Japan residency before opening a personal account, a practice reported by relocation guides rather than published by any bank or regulator (confirm current requirements directly with the bank you're considering).15
Online-only banks require no branch visit, though many still expect a Japanese-language application and mail-based identity verification, which can slow the process for a new arrival (same informal-practice caveat applies).15
Salaried employees frequently have their first bank account shaped by their employer. Japanese employers commonly ask new hires to open, or use, an account at the company's own transacting bank for payroll-transfer convenience.1617 Legally, however, an employee designates their own payroll account under Japanese wage-payment rules; an employer cannot unilaterally mandate a specific bank without the employee's agreement (current practical convention, not a published rule).1617
Digital-first users, comfortable with app-only banking and without an urgent need for in-person branch service, are the archetype best matched to the online-only tier. A small-business owner or a reader who needs a physical branch relationship in a specific region is more likely to end up at a regional bank, shinkin, or shinkumi serving that area.11412
Japan Post Bank's post-office-level ubiquity makes it a realistic default in areas with few megabank or regional-bank branches, since its combined network, including post offices acting as its agent, reaches locations the other tiers do not.3
Good to know
A megabank account is not automatically the easiest one to open
Megabank paperwork is usually Japanese-only, and many megabank branches informally expect around six months of Japan residency before opening a personal account. This is a commonly cited friction point for new arrivals.15 Online-only banks skip the branch visit, though a Japanese-language application and mail-based identity verification can still slow things down.15
Your employer may choose your first bank for you
New hires sometimes assume their employer can simply assign them a payroll bank. Legally, the choice belongs to the employee: Japanese wage-payment rules require that wages go to a bank account in the employee's name, at a bank the employee specifies, and only where the employee agrees.16 In practice, however, smaller employers commonly ask, though cannot legally compel, new hires to open an account at the company's own transacting bank, largely to avoid inter-bank transfer fees.17
Tiers overlap and consolidate
Regional-bank mergers are an ongoing trend that can move a bank from one tier label to another, or fold two banks into one, within a single reader's residency. Recent examples show how frequently this happens:
- Aomori Bank and Michinoku Bank merged into Aomori Michinoku Bank on January 1, 2025.18
- 82 Bank absorbed Nagano Bank into 82 Nagano Bank on January 1, 2026.19
- Fukui Bank absorbed Fukuho Bank under the unified Fukui Bank brand on May 2, 2026.20
- Resona Holdings absorbed Kansai Mirai Financial Group on April 1, 2024, making Kansai Mirai Bank and Minato Bank direct Resona Holdings subsidiaries.21
Each of these changes a bank association's member count over time, one reason a bank-tier figure needs a stated as-of date rather than being treated as fixed.