Sumitomo profit up after three years

Sumitomo Trust & Banking, Japan's fifth-largest bank, reported its first increase in annual profit in three years on a decline in bad-loan costs as the economy recovered from its deepest postwar recession.

Net income jumped six-fold to ¥53 billion (Dh2.07bn) in the 12 months ended March 31, from ¥7.95bn a year earlier, the Osaka-based lender said in a preliminary earnings statement today. Total credit costs dropped to ¥4bn, compared with ¥170bn a year earlier. The Japanese government said this month the economy is "picking up steadily".