Rakuten needs money – and lots of it – as its mobile telecommunications arm continues to burn cash. But it is running out of things to sell, while its debt profile is miserable.

Pressure is growing on Japan’s self-imposed caps on government bond yields. Positive rates must be around the corner, but what will that mean for banks and public debt?

MUFG’s vast balance sheet has the potential to make a considerable difference to Japan’s net-zero ambitions. But the bank won’t be pulling back from polluters, arguing that money needs to flow to where emissions are, not away from them.

The enormous re-listing of Arm Holdings is unrepresentative in many ways, but it still contains a valuable lesson for those coming down the pipe.

Outbound Chinese M&A deal-flow has slowed to a crawl even as inbound activity remains steady. So focus in the region is moving elsewhere: to rising India, steady-and-lucrative Australia and even Japan, where once-bloated conglomerates are streamlining portfolios under intense pressure from activist shareholders.

Analysts are looking beyond China for clues as to where the main Asian currencies will go over the remainder of 2023 as they try to second-guess Japan’s monetary policy plans.

Japan is the first major market to put a regulatory environment around stablecoins into law.

How on earth, in this environment, did the bank deliver one of its best-ever quarters in Asia?

Tech-related bank deals can still get away, but investors call the shots now.

With the advent of its strategic alliance with Japan’s Mizuho Financial, Lombard Odier now has wealth management tie-ups in seven Asia countries, with the promise of more to come.

Inflation has returned to the country for the first time in 30 years. As it does so, there is a new face at the helm of the Bank of Japan. What does it mean for the megabanks?

Don’t expect a flood of IPOs, but there are still placements across Asia Pacific.

Yet another multi-billion-dollar loss on investments in SoftBank’s Vision Funds speaks to a malaise that is hurting the tech teams of investment banks in Asia.

The purchase of Home Credit’s businesses in the Philippines and Indonesia fits with a trend to seek growth outside Japan.

Last week’s financial summit aimed to show investors Hong Kong is open for business. While well attended, it also served as a reminder of how closed off the financial hub has become and how much of its lustre has been lost.

For one, it brings power to its digital operations, for the other a much-needed injection of funds. But it doesn’t change a grim operating environment.

The recent multi-decade lows experienced by the pound and the yen may have different origins, but they are also a reminder that history has a habit of repeating itself.

Rakuten’s adventures in mobile have given the Japanese e-commerce group a rabid thirst for capital. So much so that it is prepared to list the group’s digital bank at the worst possible time.

Few could understand the reasoning when Berkshire Hathaway bought into Japan’s five creaking, antiquated trading houses in 2020. But a spate of record results has vindicated Warren Buffett’s decision.

Toshiba has unveiled a new restructuring format, but its roster of activist shareholders would much prefer the business be taken private.

Ravi Raju has hired some seasoned names and is extending the bank’s reach into south Asia and the Middle East.

MUFG reaps benefits from releases and Morgan Stanley but needs do the same from its core businesses.

The Japanese currency continues to slide as traders anticipate interest-rate movement in the US, but even the Fed's hawkish tilt does not guarantee that this direction of travel will be sustained.

A new pledge to use foreign reserves to buy ESG assets is one of many institutional measures in Japan. But the country has still not realized its green potential at the corporate level.

How much right does a bank have to instruct your behaviour when working from home? At Nomura in Japan, plenty, it seems – though the bank has only concern for your health at heart.

SMBC’s tie-up with Jefferies is only the latest in a series of acquisitions, partnerships and initiatives it has undertaken from India to Vietnam to Wall Street. Now, says president and chief executive Jun Ohta, it is time to make them work.

There’s a clear role model for US-Japan tie-ups in New York investment banking. Can the new partnership between Jefferies and SMBC follow it?

No Japanese bank has had a shot at Indian retail before now. Could this be the first of several attempts?

It is showtime. One year after Toshiba’s AGM triggered 12 months of shareholder revolt and the departure of the CEO and several other key figures, it is time for the next meeting. They will have plenty to discuss.

Upstart Jarden has fine people; Nomura has network and balance sheet. Will a partnership work?