SoftBank Group's investments in AI will be financed through a loan in which Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking and JPMorgan Chase serve as lead underwriters -- a sign of the Japanese tech investor's ability to secure financing for its outsized ambitions. The one-year 15 billion bridge loan, one of the biggest borrowings SoftBank has pulled off to date, will be financed by 21 banks and includes 1.35 billion from Mizuho, 1.25 billion from SMBC and 1 billion from JPMorgan, according to people familiar with the matter. It also includes a combined 950 million from HSBC Holdings and Barclays and 850 million jointly from seven banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., MUFG Bank and Credit Agricole, said the people, who asked not to be named as the details of the financing remain private. Representatives of the banks also declined to comment.

The Japanese bank will help customers understand key social and economic activities using Orbital Insight's combination of satellite imagery, location data and artificial intelligence Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) announced today that it is partnering with Orbital Insight, the geospatial analytics company, to offer customers access to new data sources for better business decisions. SMBC will use Orbital Insight's GO platform to launch an analytics service that visualizes social and economic activities in near real-time by combining satellite imagery, anonymized location data and artificial intelligence. The service will initially focus on understanding macro trends like how people are shifting daily activities amidst current remote work requirements. SMBC has already piloted Orbital Insight's data for its proof of concept projects and confirmed its effectiveness. "When it comes to business risk, geospatial analytics and AI can make the invisible visible," said Katsunori Tanizaki, Senior Managing Executive Officer at SMBC. "The uncertainty of the pandemic makes that an even more important need for our customers, who are often managing global assets. Working with Orbital Insight on this new service combines SMBC's business insights as a financial institution with Silicon Valley's cutting-edge technology to help customers navigate the right decisions. Access to daily trends on thousands of global locations will be extremely valuable, especially across the construction, finance, retail and maritime sectors."

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) and its partners have unveiled an automated chat service using artificial intelligence (AI) to offer guidance to customers in Japan. SMFG is working with SMBC Nikko Securities, NTT Communications, with support from Accenture Japan, and their service will become available on 25 May 2017 at SMBC's contact centre to improve its LINE-based inquiry service. LINE is a freeware app for instant communications on electronic devices. Once launched this month, the AI chatbot will provide guidance on ways to open accounts as well as on initial public offerings (IPO) and NISA (a type of Japanese individual savings account). They also plan to expand the service to include such things as share price inquiries and investment trust selection.