Rising rates put Kyoto bank’s $6 billion gain on stakes in play

The Bank of Kyoto headquarters in Kyoto | bloomberg

Oct 28, 2026

Japan’s rising interest rates are giving Kyoto Financial Group more reason to cash in on some of its $6 billion in paper gains on cross-shareholdings.

“We’re entering an era where we can make more money by turning those shares into cash and lending it out,” Nobuhiro Doi, president of the regional lender, said in an interview at its headquarters in Kyoto. “We should reconsider our strategic shareholdings.”

Kyoto Financial has long held stakes in large Japanese companies based in the ancient capital, including Nintendo and Kyocera. That’s put the lender under the spotlight in the long-held tradition of cross-shareholdings, where banks and businesses own pieces of each other to cement ties.

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