Sanwa Bank

The oldest of these banks, Kōnoike Bank, dated its operations back to 1656, when the Kōnoike family of Osaka established a money exchange business.

The exchange was chartered to provide services for the Tokugawa shogunate in 1670.

It became the largest bank in Japan in terms of assets during the years prior to World War II.

[2] In the 1990s, it was the most profitable bank in the world, and second-largest in terms of assets behind its eventual merger partner Tokyo-Mitsubishi.

[3] Asahi pulled out of these talks later that year[4] and The Toyo Trust & Banking Co. added to the merger group, the combined company then to be called United Financial Holdings of Japan.