| Website | http://www.smth.jp/en/ |
| Headquarters |
1-4-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo
Japan
|
| CEO/chair |
Toru Takakura President Executive Officer |
| Supervisor | |
| Ownership |
listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings' shareholder structure can be accessed here. |
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings is a Japanese financial holding company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It provides financial services to retail and wholesale customers, with a focus on asset management, financial brokerage and real estate. Its main operating company is the Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank which is the largest trust company and the fifth-largest bank in Japan measured by assets. The company has no capital relationship with the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group. The two banking groups are similarly named because both are descended from the historical Sumitomo and Mitsui conglomerates. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank adopted the Equator Principles in 2016.
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings' most important sustainability commtiments can be found at the website sections listed below.
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings is linked to a number of companies and projects that BankTrack considers controversial (so called Dodgy Deals), e.g. as a current or past financier or through an expression of interest. The profiles below provide more details on the nature of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings's link to these deals.
Reclaim Finance tracks the coal, oil and gas policies of financial institutions, including banks, in the Coal Policy Tracker and Oil and Gas Policy Tool. Find further details on their assessment of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings' fossil fuel policy below.
BankTrack assessed Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings in its 2022 Global Human Rights Benchmark, where it achieved 4.5 points out of 14 and was ranked as a follower. In addition, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings scored 0 out of 3 on how it responds to alleged human rights violations linked to its finance, which were raised by civil society organisations. More information is detailed in the "Accountability" section of this profile.
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings’ policies for forest-risk sectors (beef, soy, palm oil, pulp and paper, rubber and timber) have been assessed by the Forests & Finance coalition, achieving an overall score of 3.1 out of 10 and ranking it as a follower. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings achieved a score of 0.5 out of 10 specifically for its policies related to the beef sector and 6.3 out of 10 for its policies related to the palm oil sector. Between 2016 and 2022, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings provided USD 409 million in credit to companies operating in these forest-risk sectors and held investments amounting to USD 123 million as of 2022. For more information, see the links below.
A bank can obtain a total of 10 points for the quality of its policies. The total score is based on their scores per sector, weighted against their financing and investment for each sector. For further details on this see here. Based on their overall score, banks are then classified as Laggards, Followers, Front runners or Leaders, as follows:
A bank can obtain a total of 10 points for the quality of its beef policy. The total score is based on their scores per sector, weighted against their financing and investment for each sector. For further details on this see here. Based on their overall score, banks are then classified as Laggards, Followers, Front runners or Leaders, as follows:
A bank can obtain a total of 10 points for the quality of its palm oil policy. The total score is based on their scores per sector, weighted against their financing and investment for each sector. For further details on this see here. Based on their overall score, banks are then classified as Laggards, Followers, Front runners or Leaders, as follows:
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings is a member of the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) and has therefore committed to reduce its financed emissions to net zero by 2050; within 18 months of joining the alliance set interim targets for 2030 (or sooner) for high emission priority sectors, and within 36 months set further sector targets; set new intermediary targets every 5 years from 2030 onwards; annually publish data on emissions and progress against a transition strategy including climate-related sectoral policies; and take a robust approach to the role of offsets in transition plans. BankTrack track's implementation of these commitments in the NZBA compliance tracker.
Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings does not operate a complaints channel for individuals and communities that may be adversely affected by its finance.
Stakeholders may raise complaints via the OECD National Contact Points (see OECD Watch guidance).
This page evaluates Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings's responses to instances of alleged human rights violations linked to its finance, raised by civil society organisations. It is not intended to be exhaustive, but covers selected impacts raised by BankTrack and other civil society partners since 2016. For the full scoring methodology, see here. For more information about BankTrack's evaluation of bank responses to human rights impacts, see the 2021 report "Actions speak louder: assessing bank responses to human rights violations".
