Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. reported a 13.0% year-over-year decline in net profit for the nine months ended Dec. 31, 2016.

The group said profit attributable to owners of the parent dropped to ¥544.68 billion from ¥626.24 billion in the prior-year period. EPS declined to ¥398.07 from ¥457.73.

The group mainly attributed the decline in gross profit to lower profit from the treasury unit of its banking subsidiary Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and to the impact of negative interest rates. It added that the group's general and administrative expenses increased by ¥59.5 billion year over year to ¥1.345 trillion.

Ordinary profit for the nine-month period fell to ¥813.31 billion from ¥900.16 billion in the year-ago period, while ordinary income rose to ¥3.758 trillion from ¥3.574 trillion.

Net interest income dropped to ¥1.020 trillion from ¥1.120 trillion in the prior-year period. Net fees and commissions income fell year over year to ¥732.95 billion from ¥756.93 billion.

The group's nonperforming loan ratio clocked in at 0.99% as of Dec. 31, 2016, down from 1.15% as of March 31, 2016.

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking posted a net income of ¥543.23 billion for the nine-month period, up 18.4% from ¥458.83 billion in the prior-year period. The bank's ordinary profit rose to ¥674.42 billion from ¥564.09 billion.

Net interest income increased to ¥873.70 billion from ¥794.86 billion, while net fees and commissions income declined to ¥239.41 billion from ¥259.08 billion.

The bank's NPL ratio stood at 0.64% at the end of December 2016, down from 0.78% at the end of March 2016.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial maintained its net income forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017, at ¥700 billion.

As of Jan. 26, US$1 was equivalent to ¥114.71.