Sumitomo Mitsui Reviews

Pros

Stable career path is ensured as most people stay for years
people are reasonable
large corporate
profitable
professionla
colleagues are helpful in general

Cons

Japanese culture
lack of training opportunity
lack of networking chance
management is very vertical
there should be lots of room for improvement

Advice to Senior Management

the management should be flexisble and eager to listen to employee
compensation should be more competitive and aggressrive to attract talents

Pros

Nice office location in midtown Manhattan. Bonuses are good depending on the year the organization has had as a whole. Great health benefits.

Cons

Bonuses are performance driven; meaning if the company as a whole is not doing well, your bonus will reflect that. It is a Japanese company that is bureaucratic and filled with red tape. Even thought they have operations in the states, the japanese way of doing business overrides and they have difficulty undersanding business ops in the states and other countries. If you are not Japanese you will be the first laid off. Management is not looking out to move the organiztion forward they only care about their next assigment. Super stars leave after the first year or 2 and what is left just maintains operations. Extremely political to a point where nothing gets done in the right way.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop worrying about your next assignment and try and move the business forward.

Pros

More active approach to capital usage. Happy to be a commercial bank and operate across many countries to support client needs

Cons

Very disfunctional. Japanese management are more focused on managing their next career steps than improving the business. Technology, policies, processes are all of especially poor standard vs non-Japanese banks and limit competitiveness

Advice to Senior Management

Look for more opportunities to westernise the bank from top down, thereby having a more client/employee friendly approach. Senior mgmt should be rewarding Japanese middle mgmt for taking sensible risk, restructuring their businesses, etc

Pros

- SMBC has strong presence in Asia
- SMBC is the 3rd largest bank in Japan and has strong balance sheet capability
- SMBC is the most active Japanese bank in the structured finance sector

Cons

- Strong Japanese culture
- Too strong focus in Asian business

Advice to Senior Management

There should be more international persepective to be implemented within the organization.

Pros

To be employed and get out. More Japanese than Americans. Know it or you can be an outsider. Be there at exactly on the dot, and if you come up a minute later, you are considered late mark on your performance review. Leave work exactly at 5pm on the clock, no exceptions or your supervisor will yell at you for not being a team player! Move you from convenient Midtown Manhattan office location to JC, NJ to inconvenient your commute and then, laid you off later. Nice and organized annual health fair, it's fair. Standard job salary, benefits, and performance bonuses if you suck up to your boss.

Cons

Shut my mouth when it’s time

Open it… when it’s time

If I want a promotion, do that job without the title and the pay check. They will have to give it to you at one point.

Lower my expectations (in term of numbers or delays)

Deliver the maximum (and get a huge achievement bonus!)

Makes allies in every department, it’s always useful! Because your manager will get you with this in your performance review (poor communication is bad) if you don't socialize and make friends to other department people. She deemed it is important. You can't be yourself and pretend that you like them.

Advice to Senior Management

Read it and it's up to you. You get paid to do the upper management job salary. Appreciation is much appreciated.

Pros

I feel that SMBC is a place where you can go if you are looking for stability. Very unlikely that they fire or let go anyone. The career path follows the Japanese model where promotions and salary increases come at a slow, but consistent pace (therefore it is not a place for superstars). In a year like 2008, where industry-wide bonuses were down, I had mine increased by a significant amount (perhaps it was too low in the previous year). They throw you in the middle of the ocean, so you must learn to swim fast. In many places they would not give you the same kind of opportunities as they would not probably expect that you become an expert overnight.

Cons

The work load can be brutal, especially because things are done in a way (Japanese) that often appears arcane. If your management is Japanese, then dialogue and feedback are limited and communication problems will abound. Form over substance is the rule, so be prepared to make charts, fill checklists and become familiar (for what it is possible) with incomprehensible rules and manuals.

Advice to Senior Management

Be open to suggestions and enhance dialogue at all levels.

Pros

Small firm that will allow you to take on alot of responsibilities and tasks. Good chance to learn given the small structure

Cons

Japanese promotion structure encourages experience at the firm over genuine potential so can be slow but sure promotion and advanced in career

Advice to Senior Management

Encourage the junior staff to work towards potential success and promotion. More team building away days etc to get a good team culture.

Pros

Its a large multinational bank with great reach.

Cons

Your experience working for the bank depends on which group you are working for. Some groups overwork you without any benefits beyond what others who don't work nearly as hard get too. In the groups that work you hard the words work and life are never in the same sentence.

Advice to Senior Management

Overworking people only makes them leave.