SMFG Profit Rises 4.6%, Helped by Lending Business

TOKYO -- Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. posted a 4.6% rise in full-year net profit, thanks to improvement in its lending business, government-bond sales and the consolidation of a leasing unit.

Even as some major Japanese banks struggled to generate profits in the face of their subprime exposure, Japan's third-largest bank by assets largely managed to shrug off subprime losses, posting a net ...