Mebuki Lease

Wiki route

This entry sits under the leasing-firms INDEX as the FG-subsidiary leasing operating-company anchor for Mebuki FG. Read it against parent operating banks Joyo Bank / Ashikaga Bank and sibling subsidiary Mebuki Securities. Peer comparison: Hokkaido Leasing (affiliated with Hokuyo Bank and Hokkaido Bank) and major lessors Mitsubishi HC Capital / Mizuho Leasing. For broader system routes, see regional-bank consolidation pattern and banking index.

TL;DR

Mebuki Lease Co., Ltd. is a regional-bank-affiliated leasing company of Mebuki FG (TSE PRIME 7167) and a 100% subsidiary. It originated as Joyo Lease, established by Joyo Bank in 1974-09, and became Mebuki Lease when Mebuki FG acquired all of its shares and changed its name on 2017-04-03 (confirmed by the official corporate history and corporate registration). On the same date, the leasing business operated by Ashikaga Credit Guarantee, a subsidiary of Ashikaga Bank, was consolidated into Mebuki Lease through business succession; Mebuki Lease then opened Utsunomiya and Ashikaga sales departments and expanded into Tochigi (confirmed by Nikkei dated 2017-03-07 and the official corporate history). Legally, this was a sole name change of Joyo Lease, not an “equal merger of Joyo Lease + Ashikaga Lease”: no independent company named “Ashikaga Lease” existed, and Ashikaga Credit Guarantee operated the Ashikaga-side leasing business. The company provides equipment leasing, finance leasing, operating leasing, vendor leasing, and related services to mid-sized main-bank customers in Ibaraki, Tochigi, and the Tokyo metropolitan area. It is among the leading regional-bank-affiliated leasing firms. ^•

1. License / group boundary

Source: Mebuki Lease and Mebuki Financial Group (group affiliation in this table).

2. Ownership tree

Mebuki FG (holding company, TSE PRIME 7167)
  ├── Joyo Bank (100%) ── Ibaraki base
  ├── Ashikaga Bank (100%) ── Tochigi base
  ├── Mebuki Securities (100%) ── group securities
  ├── Mebuki Lease (100%, this page) ── group leasing
  │     ├── former Joyo Lease (joyo-bank-affiliated, established 1974-09), renamed on 2017-04-03
  │     ├── succeeded to and consolidated the leasing business of Ashikaga Credit Guarantee (ashikaga-bank-affiliated) on the same date
  │     └── equipment leasing for mid-sized companies in North Kanto + the Tokyo metropolitan area
  ├── Mebuki Card (100%) ── regional-bank-originated credit cards
  └── Joyo Capital / Ashikaga Capital ── regional investment and consulting

Former Joyo Lease lineage (originating entity)

• 1974-09: Joyo Bank established Joyo Lease Co., Ltd. as a complementary business for its leasing and finance functions (confirmed by the official corporate history)
• As a Joyo Bank-affiliated leasing company, its main business was equipment leasing for mid-sized companies in Ibaraki Prefecture
• A typical postwar regional-bank-affiliated lessor: it supported SME capital investment through equipment leasing rather than bank lending
• 2017-04-03: Mebuki FG acquired all shares and renamed the company Mebuki Lease Co., Ltd. (confirmed by corporate registration)

Relationship with Ashikaga Bank’s leasing function — confirmed (verified 2026-05-30)

• No independent company named “Ashikaga Lease” existed. Historically, the Ashikaga Bank-affiliated leasing company was Kita-Kanto Lease Co., Ltd. (FSA certification of a business-restructuring plan dated 2003-03-11; capital JPY 145 million). In later years, Ashikaga Credit Guarantee Co., Ltd. operated the leasing business using seconded bank employees (Nikkei dated 2017-03-07). The former version’s framing of an “equal merger of Joyo Lease + Ashikaga Lease” was wrong both about the company name and the form of integration.
• The succession of the Ashikaga-side leasing business did take place. On 2017-04-03, the leasing business of Ashikaga Credit Guarantee was consolidated into Joyo Lease, which was renamed Mebuki Lease on the same date, through business succession (confirmed by Nikkei dated 2017-03-07 and Mebuki Lease’s official corporate history). Mebuki Lease consequently opened Utsunomiya and Ashikaga sales departments and expanded into Tochigi, while Ashikaga Bank continued to second employees. The statement that Mebuki Lease “succeeded to the leasing business of Ashikaga Credit Guarantee” is therefore confirmed; however, the successor and form were a business consolidation into Joyo Lease = Mebuki Lease, not an “equal merger with Ashikaga Lease.”
• Mebuki FG subsequently acquired all shares of Ashikaga Credit Guarantee on 2020-10-01 and renamed it Mebuki Credit Guarantee Co., Ltd.; it now specializes in credit guarantees (the leasing business had already been transferred to Mebuki Lease in 2017-04) (Nikkei 2020-07 and group-company information).
• Ashikaga Bank went through temporary nationalization in 2003-11 and was integrated into Mebuki FG in 2016-10; the 2017-04 leasing consolidation described above formed part of the post-integration reorganization of group functions.

Establishment of Mebuki FG and group integration

1. 2016-10-01Mebuki FG established through a joint share transfer by joyo-bank + ashikaga-bank
2. 2017-04-03Mebuki FG acquired all shares of Joyo Lease and renamed it Mebuki Lease — reorganizing it as the group’s common leasing function for the customer bases of its 2 bank subsidiaries

4. KPI table (concept)

Source: Mebuki Lease company overview and history (establishment, name change, capital, head office, and parent company in this table).

Note: Because Mebuki Lease is an unlisted wholly owned subsidiary, precise standalone financial KPIs are not disclosed separately; refer to the mebuki-fg securities-report segment information

5. Business segment map

Position within the FG

• Core of bank-leasing coordination: serves the leasing needs of mid-sized main-bank customers of mebuki-fg’s 2 banks
• Capital-investment support: complements bank lending + addresses off-balance-sheet treatment needs
• Coordination with local governments and the public sector: leasing transactions for municipalities in Ibaraki and Tochigi prefectures

Competitive landscape

• Major lessors: Mitsubishi HC Capital / SMFL / Mizuho Leasing / Fuyo General Lease / Tokyo Century / Ricoh Leasing — advantaged in large-scale, nationwide, and complex transactions
• Regional-bank-affiliated lessors: Hokkaido Leasing / Chiba Kogyo Lease / Gunma Lease and others — the same type of model
• Manufacturer-affiliated lessors: Toyota Finance / NEC Capital Solutions — product-linked
• In-prefecture competition: leasing affiliated with Tsukuba Bank and Tochigi Bank

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: the joyo-bank / ashikaga-bank customer base (mid-sized main-bank customers in Ibaraki and Tochigi) + locally rooted, on-the-ground service

7. Regulation and policy

• Supervisory authority: Financial Services Agency (FSA) (the leasing business alone does not require a banking license; money-lending registration requirements depend on the activities handled)
• Regulatory issues:
  • Support for lease accounting standard changes (IFRS16 / Japanese standards)
  • Use of lease tax incentives for SMEs (SME Investment Promotion Tax System)
  • Decarbonization-tax compliance for environmental leasing (renewable-energy equipment leasing)
  • Anti-social-forces checks / anti-money-laundering measures (jointly implemented across the mebuki-fg group)

Related

• mebuki-fg · joyo-bank · ashikaga-bank · mebuki-securities
• mitsubishi-hc-capital · smfl · mizuho-lease · fuyo-lease · tokyo-century · ricoh-leasing · hokkaido-lease
• ja-mitsui-leasing · nec-leasing · showa-leasing
• regional-bank-consolidation-pattern · INDEX
• leasing-firms INDEX

Sources

• Mebuki Lease official site and corporate history (https://www.mebuki-lease.co.jp/gaiyo/index.html, confirmed 2026-05-30) — “Joyo Lease established in 1974/9,” “renamed Mebuki Lease Co., Ltd. in 2017/4,” and the opening of the Utsunomiya and Ashikaga sales departments in the same 2017/4 (expansion into Tochigi). The corporate history shows continuity of the legal entity from Joyo Lease → Mebuki Lease and does not describe an absorption merger with a separate company (Nikkei confirms the succession of Ashikaga Credit Guarantee’s leasing business as a business consolidation)
• Nihon Keizai Shimbun, “Joyo Bank and Ashikaga Bank to integrate leasing business in April (the 4th month)” (2017-03-07) https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXLZO13723910W7A300C1L60000/ (confirmed 2026-05-30) — On 2017-04-03, the leasing business of Ashikaga Bank subsidiary Ashikaga Credit Guarantee, which operated it with seconded bank employees, was consolidated into Joyo Bank subsidiary Joyo Lease, and Joyo Lease was renamed Mebuki Lease. The source of succession was Ashikaga Credit Guarantee, not “Ashikaga Lease.” This was a business consolidation, not an equal merger.
• FSA, “Certification of the business-restructuring plan of Ashikaga Bank Co., Ltd. and Kita-Kanto Lease Co., Ltd. under the Act on Special Measures for Industrial Revitalization” (2003-03-11) https://www.fsa.go.jp/news/newsj/14/ginkou/f-20030311-3.html (confirmed 2026-05-30) — The Ashikaga Bank-affiliated leasing company was Kita-Kanto Lease Co., Ltd. (capital JPY 145 million). No independent company named Ashikaga Lease has been identified
• Japan Leasing Association regular-member list https://www.leasing.or.jp/about/mainmember.html (confirmed 2026-05-30) — Only Mebuki Lease Co., Ltd. is listed for this group. Joyo Lease, Ashikaga Lease, Ashikaga Credit Guarantee, and Kita-Kanto Lease are not currently listed (consistent with consolidation of the leasing function into Mebuki Lease)
• National Tax Agency corporate-number publication site / national corporation list: Mebuki Lease Co., Ltd. (former Joyo Lease Co., Ltd.) https://houjin.jp/c/4050001001187 (confirmed 2026-05-30) — Established 1974-09; Joyo Lease → Mebuki Lease name change on 2017-04-03. Confirms continuity of the legal entity (no record of an absorption merger with Ashikaga Lease or a similar company)
• Ashikaga Credit Guarantee → Mebuki Credit Guarantee name change (Nikkei reporting dated 2020-07 / Mebuki FG group-company information, search confirmed 2026-05-30) — Mebuki FG acquired all shares of Ashikaga Credit Guarantee on 2020-10-01 and renamed it Mebuki Credit Guarantee; it now specializes in credit guarantees (the leasing business had already been transferred to Mebuki Lease in 2017-04)
• Mebuki FG official IR (https://www.mebuki-fg.co.jp/) — As of 2026-05-30, the group-company and corporate-history pages returned HTTP 403 through WebFetch (direct retrieval unavailable; confirmed alternatively through the Nikkei article and official leasing-company history above)
• Regional Banks Association of Japan (https://www.chiginkyo.or.jp/, affiliated-company information)
• Wikipedia: Mebuki Financial Group (extracted 2026-05-24)

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[!info] Verification status confidence: likely (FG leasing-subsidiary anchor created 2026-05-24; the establishment history and Ashikaga-side leasing integration were re-verified on 2026-05-30 against the official site, corporate registration, Nikkei, and the FSA). The mebuki-fg page covers the holding-company strategy, while this page covers the leasing-subsidiary operating boundary. The company overview (established 1974-09 / capital JPY 1 oku, or one hundred million yen / approximately 80 employees / renamed from the former Joyo Lease on 2017-04-03) has been confirmed on the official site and the National Tax Agency corporate-number site. Correction (2026-05-30): the former version’s framing that the company was “created through an equal merger of Joyo Lease + Ashikaga Lease” was wrong. The correct account is a legal-entity-continuous name change: Mebuki FG acquired all shares of Joyo Lease, established 1974-09, and renamed it on 2017-04-03. First, no independent company named Ashikaga Lease existed; the Ashikaga Bank-affiliated leasing company was Kita-Kanto Lease, and Ashikaga Credit Guarantee later operated the business using seconded bank employees, as confirmed by the FSA on 2003-03-11 and Nikkei on 2017-03-07. Second, the succession and consolidation of Ashikaga Credit Guarantee’s leasing business into Mebuki Lease on 2017-04-03 is confirmed, corroborated by Nikkei dated 2017-03-07 and the official corporate history’s opening of the Utsunomiya and Ashikaga sales departments. The previous item requiring re-confirmation, which treated the succession of Ashikaga Credit Guarantee’s leasing business as unconfirmed, is resolved. Because the company is an unlisted wholly owned subsidiary, precise standalone financial KPIs are not disclosed separately; refer to the parent mebuki-fg securities-report segment information.