TOKYO (Standard&Poor's) May 23, 2012--The consolidated net profits of Japan's five major banking groups rated by Standard&Poor's Ratings Services jumped 36% and came in within its expectations in fiscal 2011 (ended March 31, 2012). However, their profitability remained modest as their average return on assets (ROA) stood at 0.4% (0.35%, excluding the recognition of negative goodwill). That is an improvement of approximately 0.1 percentage point from fiscal 2010 (ended March 31, 2011), Standard&Poor's said in a report published today. We expect it to drop in fiscal 2012 (ending March 31, 2013) as the recognition of negative goodwill and credit cost write-backs are unlikely to be repeated on the same scale as in fiscal 2011.
