Sony Corp is working toward offering banking operations in Australia as early as 2012,
Nikkei reports.
If Sony can secure a banking licence, present plans are for Sony Bank to begin trading in August next year.
It will build on the banking business developed in Japan since Sony Financial Holdings obtained a banking licence in that market in 2001. The planned Australian venture may be the first foreign market for Sony Bank, though Sony Financial Holdings does have insurance operations in offshore markets.
Sony plans to seek consumer business in Australia, and may adopt a "mortgage-centric domestic business model" according to the Nikkei.
According to Nikkei, Sony Bank is a wholly owned unit of Sony Financial Holdings, in which Sony has a 60 per cent stake. Sony Bank had assets of around Y1.76 trillion at March 2011.