Resona Holdings Inc. and Kansai Mirai Financial Group Inc. received approval to have Minato Bank Ltd. and Kansai Urban Banking Corp. as their subsidiaries as part of a planned merger of two regional banks with Resona's Kinki Osaka Bank Ltd.

As part of the merger plan, Minato Bank ceased to be a subsidiary of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. and became its equity method affiliate in February. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group said March 30 that Kansai Urban Banking ceased to be its subsidiary and became its equity method affiliate, effective the same day. The development came after the companies obtained all relevant approvals for the merger of the three banks.

The move is part of Resona and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial's agreement, signed in September 2017, to consolidate their regional banking units in the Kansai region under Kansai Mirai Financial Group. Under the plan, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial agreed to integrate its units Minato Bank and Kansai Urban Banking with Resona's Kinki Osaka Bank Ltd.