| Abbreviated SMBC. Its existence is proof of The Onion's OmniCorp hypothesis: as the name indicates, SMBC is the unholy spawn of Sumitomo and Mitsui, two of Japan's oldest and largest keiretsu. It's difficult to explain, in words, how this merger happened, so instead I'll give you SMBC's family tree:
Mitsui Bank
Sumitomo Bank 1876 Dai-Ichi Bank
1895 |________________|
| Kobe Bank | Jugo Bank
| 1936 Teikoku Bank_______________|
Osaka Bank | 1943
1948 | |_________________________
| | | |
Sumitomo Bank | | Dai-Ichi Bank, 1948
1952 | Mitsui Bank
| Kawachi Bank | 1954 Toto Bank
|__________| | |__________________|
1965 | Taiyo Bank 1968
| |______| |
| | |
| Taiyo Kobe Bank |
| Heiwa Sogo Bank 1973 |
|__________| | |
1986 | |
| |______________|
| |
| Mitsui Taiyo Kobe Bank
| 1990
| |
| Sakura Bank
| 1992
|___________________________|
|
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
2001
SMBC is enjoying the fruits of Japan's financial industry liberalization—recently, they received clearance to begin selling life insurance. They need all the help they can get, though, as they tend to lead major slides in the Nikkei. | 
