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Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (株式会社三井住友フィナンシャルグループ), also known as SMBC Group is a Japanese financial holding company that owns Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and SMBC Trust Bank. It was founded in 2002 by the transfer of shares from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.

History
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) announced on July 30, 2002 that it would establish a holding company by December and reorganize three related companies, its subsidiary Sumitomo Mitsui Card Company, Sumitomo Mitsui Bank Leasing, and The Japan Research Institute, a sister think tank, as subsidiaries of the holding company. The holding company had a capital of 1 trillion yen, and SMBC CEO Takashi Nishikawa and Chairman Akira Okada each served as president and chairman of the holding company.

In December 2002, SMBC began considering a takeover of the Aozora Bank, which was established after the collapse of the former The Nippon Credit Bank. The Aozora Bank President Hiroshi Maruyama expressed reservations about the proposal, as it would have made it difficult for the bank to go public and repay public funds from the proceeds of the IPO. SMBC competed with a joint venture between the US investment firm Cerberus and the German bank HypoVereinsbank, and the US financial company GE Capital. The offer price was about 100 billion yen, and Cerberus also offered the same amount. However, Cerberus, as a major shareholder of Aozora Bank with a 12% stake, had the right to purchase the bank first if the offer price was the same as that of the other bidders. In April 2003, Cerberus announced the acquisition of the Aozora Bank.

In March 2004, SMBC merged with its 100% subsidiary, the Wakashio Bank. The purpose of the merger was to generate about 2 trillion yen in book profits (merger surplus) by making the Wakashio Bank the surviving company, and to eliminate the hidden losses of SMBC, such as those on stocks.

Merger Exploration
On July 14, 2004, UFJ Holdings announced that it had decided to enter into negotiations with Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group (MTFG) for a management integration. In response, on July 30, SMFG announced that it had made a management integration proposal to UFJ. On August 8, it was reported that SMFG had sent a formal proposal document summarizing the detailed terms of the integration plan to MTFG. In response to MTFG's plan to provide an investment of approximately 500 billion yen, SMFG said that it would invest at least 500 billion yen and up to 700 billion yen.

In August 2004, MTFG and UFJ officially announced that they had reached a basic agreement on a full-scale management integration. In response, SMFG proposed a merger ratio of "1 to 1." The recent stock prices of SMFG and UFJ were 1 to 0.77 on average over the past six months, which was an exceptionally favorable condition for UFJ shareholders. However, in February 2005, MTFG and UFJ signed a merger agreement with a merger ratio of "1 to 0.62." SMFG officially decided to withdraw its management integration proposal to UFJ and notified UFJ in writing. On January 1, 2006, MTFG and UFJ Holdings merged to form Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.

In February 2005, it was revealed that SMFG was in negotiations with Daiwa Securities Group, with a view to a possible merger of the two companies. The two groups had already established a joint venture, Daiwa Securities SMBC, a specialist in corporate transactions, but they were considering merging their holding companies to achieve a complete integration of the groups as a whole. They hoped to achieve this as early as the 2005 fiscal year. However, on April 8, Daiwa Securities Group Holdings President Shigeharu Suzuki said, "There are no benefits to a merger at this time, and we have no plans to begin negotiations with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group."

In September 2006, SMFG acquired SMBC Friend Securities, which was a majority-owned subsidiary of SMBC with a 40% stake.

Repayment of public funds
In July 2002, SMBC announced that it would repay 2,000 billion yen of public funds, which had been accepted in the form of perpetual subordinated bonds. The funds were part of a total of 1.5 trillion yen that had been injected into the Japanese banking system following the financial crisis of the late 1990s. In 2005, SMBC announced a three-year repayment plan, and in October of that year, it repaid an additional 323.6 billion yen.

SMFG initially targeted repaying all of its public funds by the end of the 2006 fiscal year. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) and Mizuho Financial Group (MHFG) also had the same goal. These moves were due to a number of factors, including the active resolution of non-performing loans, which had stabilized the financial system, and the increased repayment capacity of the banks. The Financial Services Agency had also encouraged banks to repay their funds early, and some banks, which were reluctant to have their management interfered with by the authorities, had responded.

SMFG announced on October 17, 2006, that it had repaid all of its public funds. MUFG repaid the funds it had inherited from its predecessor, UFJ Bank, in June. MHFG repaid its public funds in July, which had once approached 3 trillion yen. SMFG had initially targeted repaying its public funds by the end of the fiscal year, but it moved up the repayment schedule out of concern that it would be "half a lap behind" the other megabanks. In December 2006, SMFG announced that it would consolidate its headquarters functions in the Ōtemachi district of Tokyo. Since the merger in 2001, SMFG had its head office in the former Mitsui Bank building in Hibiya, with some headquarters functions in Marunouchi. The new headquarters is located next to the former Sumitomo Bank building, and the move was completed in October 2010. SMFG President Masayuki Oku said, "By consolidating our headquarters, we can improve efficiency and realize advanced and fast-paced operations."

Strengthening of Credit Sales Business
On April 27, 2007, SMFG and Mitsui & Co. announced that they would invest a total of ¥400 billion in Central Finance Co., Ltd, a credit card company affiliated with MUFG Group. SMFG would effectively own 20% of CF, giving it a controlling stake. This move was seen as an effort by SMFG to strengthen its credit card business, which was lagging behind those of other megabanks. The move was initiated by CF last summer, without the knowledge of MUFG. Central Finance had been in talks with SMFG since then. Meanwhile, MUFG had been trying to merge CF with its close credit card company, Jaccs. However, CF President Tatsuo Tsutikawa and other executives opposed MUFG's plan. "It was not an option for us to stay with MUFG," Tsutikawa said. "Our unique characteristics would not have been allowed to flourish." At that time, CF was also considering a merger with Quoq Card, a credit card company in the SMFG.

In July 2007, SMBC acquired a portion of the shares of Daiei's credit card subsidiary, OMC Card, from the struggling retailer for ¥74.8 billion. SMBC then became OMC Card's parent company. With the addition of OMC Card to its existing subsidiaries, Sumitomo Mitsui Card and Central Finance, SMBC's total cardholder base exceeded 40 million, surpassing its rival, Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS (37 million). SMBC President Masayuki Oku said, "We want to build a group that balances the strengths of banks, credit card companies, and retail card companies."

In March 2008, SMFG announced plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange by 2011. SMFG believed that listing in the US would be improve its financial transparency and international creditworthiness.

In February 2009, Citigroup, a US financial company in the midst of a restructuring, announced its intention to sell its Japanese subsidiary, Nikko Cordial Securities, a retail brokerage firm. SMFG, along with MUFG and MHFG, expressed its intention to buy the company. In the final round of bidding on April 20, SMFG submitted the highest bid. On May 2, SMFG officially announced the acquisition of Nikko Cordial Securities and the major businesses of Nikko Citigroup Securities for ¥545 billion.

In April 2009, SMFG began considering a preliminary merger of its corporate brokerage business with Daiwa Securities Group, as part of a comprehensive partnership. The corporate brokerage firm Daiwa Securities SMBC, in which SMFG owns 40% and Daiwa owns 60%, was to be merged with part of Nikko Citigroup Securities, with SMFG increasing its stake in the new entity. On May 12, 2009, Daiwa Securities Group President Shigeharu Suzuki said, "a merger of Daiwa Securities SMBC and the major departments of Nikko Citigroup Securities was natural given the two companies' competition." He also said, "a full-scale merger of Daiwa Securities (a retail brokerage firm) and Nikko Cordial Securities was not in the cards." However, the full-scale negotiations that began in mid-July dragged on longer than expected. SMFG wanted to increase its stake in Daiwa SMBC from 40% to over 50%, but Daiwa was reluctant.

On September 10, 2009, SMFG and Daiwa Securities Group announced that they would dissolve the joint venture for Daiwa Securities SMBC. Daiwa would buy all of the SMFG-owned shares, which represented 40% of the total, for ¥173.9 billion. Daiwa Securities SMBC would be renamed Daiwa Securities Capital Markets and become a wholly owned subsidiary of Daiwa.

title: Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group


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The Muppet Movie

The Muppet Movie is a 1979 musical road comedy film directed by James Frawley and produced by Jim Henson, and the first theatrical film to feature the Muppets. A co-production between the United Kingdom and the United States, the film was written by The Muppet Show writers Jerry Juhl and Jack Burns. Produced during the third season of The Muppet Show, the film tells the origin story of the Muppets, as Kermit the Frog embarks on a cross-country trip to Los Angeles, encountering several of the Muppets—who all share the same ambition of finding success in professional show business—along the way while being pursued by Doc Hopper, a greedy restaurateur with intentions of employing Kermit as a spokesperson for his frog legs business.

The film stars Muppet performers Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, and Dave Goelz, as well as Charles Durning and Austin Pendleton, and it features cameo appearances by Dom DeLuise, James Coburn, Edgar Bergen (in his final film appearance before his death), Orson Welles, Carol Kane, Steve Martin, and Mel Brooks, among others. Notable for its surreal humour, meta-references and prolific use of cameos, The Muppet Movie was released by Associated Film Distribution in the United Kingdom on May 31, 1979, and in the United States on June 22, 1979.

The film received critical praise, including two Academy Award nominations for Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher's musical score and their song, "Rainbow Connection". The Muppet Movie was followed by seven feature films starring the Muppets, as well as several more television series and media. In 2009, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Plot
The story opens with the Muppets sitting down at a private screening to watch a movie, for not only a screen testing, but as a pastiche of how they all met.

Kermit the Frog lives a simple life in a Florida swamp. After he plays his banjo and sings "Rainbow Connection", he is approached by Bernie, a talent agent who encourages Kermit to pursue a career in show business before being chased away by a nearby alligator named Arnie. Inspired by the idea of "making millions of people happy", Kermit sets off on a cross-country trip to Hollywood.

Kermit meets Fozzie Bear, who is working as a hapless stand-up comedian, and Kermit invites Fozzie on his journey. The two set out in Fozzie's 1951 Studebaker, but are soon pursued by entrepreneur Doc Hopper and his assistant Max in an attempt by Hopper to convince Kermit to be the new spokesfrog of Hopper's struggling French-fried frog legs restaurant franchise. Horrified, Kermit refuses and he and Fozzie drive away. Unwilling to accept Kermit's refusal, Hopper resorts to increasingly forceful means of persuasion. In an old church, Kermit and Fozzie meet the rock band Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, and the band's manager Scooter, who help them disguise their car. Driving on, they meet and are joined by Gonzo and his girlfriend Camilla the Chicken, who are also interested in becoming movie stars. They trade in their failing vehicle at a used car lot, where they meet Sweetums. They invite Sweetums to come with them, but he runs away. The others drive away, only for Sweetums to emerge and reveal that he had only gone to pack his things.

The group meets Miss Piggy at a county fair, and she and Kermit immediately become love-stricken with each other. When Kermit and Miss Piggy meet for dinner that night, Hopper and Max sneak up on Miss Piggy and abduct her as bait to lure Kermit. When Kermit arrives at the designated location, mad scientist Professor Krassman tries to brainwash Kermit into performing in Hopper's advertisements, but Miss Piggy furiously knocks out Hopper's henchmen and causes Krassman to be brainwashed by his own device. However, immediately after the fight and saving Kermit, Miss Piggy receives a job offer and promptly abandons a devastated Kermit.

Joined by Rowlf the Dog and reunited with Miss Piggy along the way, the Muppets continue their journey to Hollywood, but their car breaks down in the desert. Sitting at a campfire, the group sadly realizes that they will likely miss the audition the next day. Kermit wanders off, ashamed for bringing his friends on a fruitless journey, but some personal reflection restores his commitment. He returns to camp, where he discovers that the Electric Mayhem have come to their rescue, having learned of their plight by reading ahead in the film's script. The Mayhem offer to drive the entire group the rest of the way in their bus.

The group is warned by a reformed Max that Hopper has hired an assassin, Snake Walker, to kill Kermit. Kermit decides to face his aggressor and proposes a Western-style showdown in a nearby ghost town. There, they find inventor Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and his assistant Beaker. Kermit confronts Hopper with an appeal to Hopper's own hopes and dreams, but Hopper is unmoved and orders his henchmen to kill Kermit and his friends. They are saved when one of Dr. Honeydew's inventions, "insta-grow" pills, temporarily enlarges Mayhem drummer Animal, who frightens away Hopper and his henchmen for good, Max cheering for the Muppets before he leaves.

Once the Muppets reach the Hollywood studio, they finally meet studio executive Lew Lord, who signs the Muppets to a "standard 'rich and famous' contract". The first take in their attempt to perform the script goes awry when Gonzo crashes into the prop rainbow, and an explosion blows a hole in the roof of the studio; a rainbow shines through the hole and illuminates the Muppets. Joined by Muppet characters from other Henson productions, including Sesame Street, Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, and The Land of Gorch, the Muppets all sing the final verse in a reprise of "Rainbow Connection" together as the film ends.

Cast

 * Charles Durning as Doc Hopper, a businessman, entrepreneur, and restaurateur.
 * Austin Pendleton as Max, Doc Hopper's shy right-hand man and sidekick.
 * Scott Walker as Snake Walker, an assassin who specializes in killing frogs.
 * H.B. Haggerty as Lumberjack
 * Bruce Kirby as Gate Guard
 * James Frawley as a Waiter at El Sleezo Café where Fozzie is doing his comedy act
 * Melinda Dillon as a Woman with Balloon (uncredited)

Muppet performers

 * Jim Henson as Kermit the Frog, Rowlf the Dog, Dr. Teeth, Waldorf, The Swedish Chef and Link Hogthrob
 * Frank Oz as Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Sam the Eagle and Marvin Suggs
 * Jerry Nelson as Floyd Pepper, Crazy Harry, Robin the Frog, Lew Zealand and Camilla the Chicken
 * Richard Hunt as Scooter, Statler, Janice, Sweetums and Beaker
 * Dave Goelz as The Great Gonzo, Zoot, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Doglion and Nigel
 * Caroll Spinney as Big Bird

Frank Oz appears in a cameo as a biker who beats up Fozzie Bear while Steve Whitmire appears as a man in the Bogen County Fair.

Special guest stars (in order of appearance)

 * Dom DeLuise as Bernie, a Hollywood agent who meets Kermit in the swamp. The character's name alludes to Bernie Brillstein, talent agent and producer of the original Muppet Show.
 * James Coburn as the El Sleezo Café Owner
 * Madeline Kahn as an El Sleezo Patron with the same rhotacism and personality Kahn used for Lili von Shtupp in Blazing Saddles
 * Telly Savalas as El Sleezo Tough
 * Carol Kane as the lisping "miss" (summoned by the word “myth”)
 * Paul Williams as the El Sleezo Pianist.
 * Milton Berle as Mad Man Mooney, a used car salesman who employs Sweetums as a jack.
 * Elliott Gould as the Compère who announces Miss Piggy as the winner of the Bogen County Beauty Pageant.
 * Edgar Bergen as himself and Charlie McCarthy playing judges at the County Fair. This appearance marks Bergen's last film; he died soon after. The film was dedicated in his memory.
 * Bob Hope as an Ice Cream Vendor serving cones to Fozzie at the County Fair.
 * Richard Pryor as a Balloon Vendor selling balloons to Gonzo at the County Fair.
 * Steve Martin as an Insolent Waiter working at the restaurant where Rowlf plays piano.
 * Mel Brooks as Professor Max Krassman, a mad scientist hired by Doc Hopper.
 * Cloris Leachman as Miss Tracy, Lew Lord's secretary who is allergic to animals.
 * Orson Welles as Lew Lord, a Hollywood producer and studio executive. The character's name alludes to Sir Lew Grade, head of ATV, the British company that co-produced the original Muppet Show.

Development
After the popularity of the Muppets had grown following the success of The Muppet Show, Lew Grade agreed to finance the production of the film and signed the deal with his company ITC Entertainment, which helped Jim Henson finance the film. After the film's production greenlit, Jim Henson and selected team members traveled to California various times to develop the script, music, and infrastructure in Hollywood to shoot the film. James Frawley was hired to direct the movie due to the film's challenges.

During Frawley and Henson's first meeting in London, they were concerned that the Muppets would not blend well in real life. They flew to Los Angeles, and along with Frank Oz and the team, they filmed and tested how the characters would appear in real-world locations during the first few days of June 1978 in a meadow. During filming tests, a cow was ambled near Fozzie for an unexpected rear look at a comparison between fake and natural fur hair. The camera tests attracted the investment of ITC Entertainment. On July 3, 1978, Henson flew to Los Angeles again to begin shooting for the film.

Filming
Principal photography began on July 5, 1978, and continued for 87 days during summer and fall of that year. Each minute took a day to be filmed. Filming locations included Albuquerque, New Mexico as well as various parts of Los Angeles and Northern California, including the San Fernando Valley. The Western street scenes were filmed on the former Columbia Ranch, then known as The Burbank Studios. Additionally, the interior shots were filmed at CBS-MTM Studios. All the sets were elevated by five feet to allow the puppeteers to perform. According to Henson, the principal photography of the film was slower than in television. No effects were added after filming concluded.

Austin Pendleton recalled that the film was shot on "a very unhappy set, because Jim [Frawley] was very unhappy directing that movie. And I noticed that was the only time the Muppet people used an outside person to direct a Muppet movie. They never did that again. After that, it was either Jim Henson or Frank Oz. And I would have liked to have been in one of those, because those sets were very harmonious. But this was not."

Several shots required Muppets standing and acting in a full-body shot. To perform Kermit sitting on a log, Henson squeezed into a specially designed metal container complete with an air hose (to breathe), a rubber sleeve which came out of the top to perform Kermit and a monitor to see his performance, and placed himself under the water, log, and the Kermit puppet. He was also assisted in this operation by Kathryn Mullen and Steve Whitmire. During breaks, cups of ice tea were given to Henson through the rubber sleeve since he could not easily leave the tank. Rescuers had to stand by the tank to pull Henson out if the tank leaked or the air supply had difficulties. The scene took five days to be filmed.

To have Kermit ride a bicycle in a full-body shot, a Kermit puppet with legs was posed onto the seat and his legs and arms were attached to the pedals and handlebars. An overhead crane with a marionette system held the bicycle through strong strings invisible to the camera, guiding the bicycle forward. The crane and system were out of the camera's frame of vision. Specially made, remote-controlled puppets were placed on the set and controlled by puppeteers out of the frame. A dancing Kermit and Fozzie Bear were operated by Henson and Oz in front of a blue screen, and they were composited onto a separate reel of the stage. For scenes involving Fozzie driving a Studebaker, cables, TV monitors, puppeteers, and its Muppets were filled in. A dwarf would sit in the trunk and control via remote control. A television monitor showed what was ahead.

The closing reprise of "Rainbow Connection" featured a crowd of more than 250 Muppet characters—virtually every Muppet that had been created up to that point in time. According to Henson Archivist Karen Falk, 137 puppeteers were enlisted from the Puppeteers of America (along with the regular Muppets performers) to perform every Muppet extant. Prior to the day-long filming of the shot, Henson gave the enthusiastic participants a lesson in the art of cinematic puppetry. The scene involved 150 puppeteers performing in a pit that was 6 feet deep and 17 feet wide. In September 1978, Edgar Bergen, Henson's idol who appeared in a cameo role, died shortly after completing his scenes. Henson was asked by his family to say a few words with Kermit for his memorial service. Henson agreed, and he attended Bergen's memorial service for its speech. Henson dedicated the film to his memory.

Music
The film's music and lyrics were written by Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher. Regarding the music's composition, Williams said; "Jim Henson gave you more [creative] freedom than anybody I've ever worked with in my life. I said, 'You want to hear the songs as we're writing them?' He said, 'No. I'll hear them in the studio. I know I'm gonna love them.' You just don't get that kind of freedom on a project these days." "Never Before, Never Again" was originally sung by Johnny Mathis, but was changed to Miss Piggy when Jim Henson thought it would be funnier if she sang it to herself. Mathis would later sing the song in the television special The Muppets Go Hollywood.

"Movin' Right Along", "Never Before, Never Again", and "I Hope That Somethin' Better Comes Along" were shortened in the film, compared to their soundtrack versions, for continuity purposes. The latter, a duet between Rowlf and Kermit, contained references that the studio considered too mature for children, although the song appeared complete in the British theatrical and home video debut versions.

Release
The Muppet Movie had a royal premiere at the Leicester Square Theatre in London on May 31, 1979, attended by Princess Anne. In the United States, the film premiered with a celebration at the Coconut Grove in Hollywood, Los Angeles. It was later released with limited release in New York City, Toronto, Los Angeles, Wichita, Kansas City, Austin, and the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex on June 22, 1979. The film rolled out gradually throughout the United States and Canada. In celebration of the film's 40th anniversary, The Muppet Movie returned to theaters for two days on July 25 and 30, 2019. The film also returned to theaters to celebrate its 45th anniversary on June 2 and 3, 2024, via Fathom Events.

Marketing
In May 1979, CBS aired The Muppets Go Hollywood, a one-hour television special that promoted the then-upcoming release of The Muppet Movie. In April, the film had been promoted when the Muppets hosted The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Additionally, a book adaptation of The Muppet Movie, adapted by Steven Crist, was published by Peacock Press/Bantam Books.

In Austin, Texas, then-CBS affiliate KTBC-TV and American International Traveler sponsored a contest where adults who paid to see the film in the area were eligible to win a free trip to Hollywood.

Home media
The Muppet Movie was the first film by ITC Films to be released on home video when Magnetic Video issued it in May 1980, having acquired the video rights to ITC's films. It was reissued in 1982 and 1984 by CBS/Fox Video. On January 29, 1993, Buena Vista Home Video re-released the film under their Jim Henson Video label on VHS and LaserDisc, pricing at $24.99. The movie was reissued again on VHS by Columbia TriStar Home Video and Jim Henson Home Entertainment on June 1, 1999, followed by a DVD release on June 5, 2001. After Disney's acquisition of the film as part of the core Muppets franchise, the film was reissued as a Walt Disney Pictures release and was re-released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on DVD on November 29, 2005, as part of the Kermit's 50th Anniversary Edition line. Disney released the film as the Nearly 35th Anniversary Edition on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on August 13, 2013. The film now streams in 4K Ultra HD on Disney+.

Box office
In its first six days at the Leicester Square Theatre, it grossed $31,884. The film would later earn over $65 million in the United States and Canada, returning $32 million in box office rentals. Ever since its release, The Muppet Movie was the highest-grossing puppet film until the release of The Muppets in 2011.

The film's successful theatrical release encouraged Lew Grade into furthering his own film distribution company, which later backfired with the massive box office failures of Can't Stop the Music (from EMI) and Raise the Titanic (from ITC), both released by Associated Film Distribution just a year later.

Critical reception
The Muppet Movie currently holds an 88% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average score of 8.00/10, based on 52 reviews. The site's consensus says "The Muppet Movie, the big-screen debut of Jim Henson's plush creations, is smart, lighthearted, and fun for all ages." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 74 out of 100 based on 7 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

The film received highly positive reviews in the United States. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars. In his favorable review, he was fascinated that "The Muppet Movie not only stars the Muppets but, for the first time, shows us their feet." Vincent Canby of The New York Times offered equal praise, stating that the film "demonstrates once again that there's always room in movies for unbridled amiability when it is governed by intelligence and wit." Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and called it "surely one of the summer's most entertaining films," which "does a fairly nice job of trying to be all things to all people. Which is not an easy job." Dale Pollock of Variety wrote, "'The Muppet Movie' is a winner... Script by Jerry Juhl and Jack Burns incorporates the zingy one-liners and bad puns that have become the teleseries' trade mark, but also develops the Muppets themselves as thinking, feeling characters." Kathleen Carroll of the New York Daily News wrote that "with the exception of Brooks' wacky scene and Steve Martin's funny bit as a snooty waiter, the cameo appearances by such stars as Bob Hope and Richard Pryor tend to slow the action down just as the bland musical numbers by Paul Williams and Kenny Asher interrupt the flow of the movie. Still The Muppet Movie should entrance both young and old as the Muppets further endear themselves with their crazy antics, their playful puns and their very human characteristics." Rex Reed, in the same newspaper, reacted more enthusiastically to the film, remarking that "if there's any doubt, The Muppet Movie will make believers and fans out of the worst pessimists. These lovable characters are so real and so endearing that I was never aware of the human hands making them work from mysterious hiding places. The Muppets made a wide-eyed, child out of me, and I hope they continue to do so until I'm in my wheelchair."

Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "as you might well expect, it is hip, funny, technically ingenious, fast-moving, melodious, richly produced, contemporary and equally and utterly beguiling to grown-ups and small persons." Katrine Ames of Newsweek stated, "'The Muppet Movie' is a delectable grab bag of influences — stories by L. Frank Baum and Lewis Carroll, Westerns, the Crosby-Hope and Garland-Rooney movies — as well as its own inventive devices. The result is a kind of 'That's Entertainment!' with a plot attached. Its charm — and success — lie primarily in its loving pokes at Hollywood conventions and in the lovable characters who do the poking." John Skow of Time magazine offered a more mixed response, saying that "the transition from the yank-'em-off-if-they-bomb lunacy of the TV show to the coherent narration of the film is not a complete success. Muppet magic remains a bewildering succession of wonderful bits, and perhaps the movie's best occurs when Rowlf the Dog, who is a barroom pianist, commiserates with Kermit, who has just been deserted by Miss Piggy. The two sing a nice, rueful song about women—the can't-live-with-them, can't-live-without-them kind of thing."

Michael Hanton of the Toronto Star wrote that "I was looking forward to a combination of Singin' in the Rain, Citizen Kane, and Intolerance. What I got was more like Gidget, The Great Race and Love Boat"; he also remarked that Fozzie Bear stole the show from his favorite character, Miss Piggy.

In the United Kingdom, it received mixed to positive reviews. Tim Radford of The Guardian called it "another film spun slightly longer than it should have been", adding that "the humour remains decently dry and self-deprecating throughout; on the other hand there isn't nearly enough of it, and a good 40 or 50 minute idea is padded to the obligatory hour and a half with songs, travelogue, flashbacks and a certain amount of mooning about." Patrick Gibbs of The Daily Telegraph remarked that "after the Wombles moved, as they did recently, from the small screen to the big, so the Muppets inevitably follow, rather more successfully, I think, for James Frawley’s The Muppet Movie is a clever construction." He also said that "the style is cunningly varied at intervals by the appearance in virtually two-line parts of such people as Milton Berle, James Coburn, Dom DeLuise or Elliott Gould, not to mention Orson Welles, each in his own comic persona. Songs also help to add variety to a very hazardous undertaking; not at all to my taste, it comes off, I would say, as well as possible." Alexander Walker of the London Evening Standard supplied the film with its most positive review in the country, calling it "the most original little show in town, and adding that it offered:Across the board delight: not only for the children: for adults, too, who'll relish its in-jokes, visual wit, cheeky parodies of other movies and [its] own brand of surrealist fun.

That's the first surprise. The second is how successfully the Muppets take to the big blow-up of the cinema screen. But this is no jumped-up clone of the TV show. It expands its own fun to fill its enlarged running-time.

It reminds you of a "Road" film. But instead of Hope, Crosby and Lamour, it has a cloth-and-styrofoam cast who look more human than the famous humanoids like Orson Welles, Mel Brooks, Telly Savalas and (yes) Bob Hope they meet en route.

The Muppets "magic," supplied by creator-producer Jim Henson and other talented artists operating the globe puppets from hiding places that a sewer rat would think cramped, endow their stars with independent life and liveliness.

Legacy
The Muppet Movie was followed by seven more feature films starring the Muppets, the first of which, The Great Muppet Caper, was released in 1981.

In 2009, it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". In 2020, "Rainbow Connection" was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry.

One of the two pairs of 1951 Studebaker Commander Coupes used in the film is now on display at the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Indiana.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: The Muppet Movie


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Poincaré map

In mathematics, particularly in dynamical systems, a first recurrence map or Poincaré map, named after Henri Poincaré, is the intersection of a periodic orbit in the state space of a continuous dynamical system with a certain lower-dimensional subspace, called the Poincaré section, transversal to the flow of the system. More precisely, one considers a periodic orbit with initial conditions within a section of the space, which leaves that section afterwards, and observes the point at which this orbit first returns to the section. One then creates a map to send the first point to the second, hence the name first recurrence map. The transversality of the Poincaré section means that periodic orbits starting on the subspace flow through it and not parallel to it.

A Poincaré map can be interpreted as a discrete dynamical system with a state space that is one dimension smaller than the original continuous dynamical system. Because it preserves many properties of periodic and quasiperiodic orbits of the original system and has a lower-dimensional state space, it is often used for analyzing the original system in a simpler way. In practice this is not always possible as there is no general method to construct a Poincaré map.

A Poincaré map differs from a recurrence plot in, that space, not time, determines when to plot a point. For instance, the locus of the Moon when the Earth is at perihelion is a recurrence plot; the locus of the Moon when it passes through the plane perpendicular to the Earth's orbit and passing through the Sun and the Earth at perihelion is a Poincaré map. It was used by Michel Hénon to study the motion of stars in a galaxy, because the path of a star projected onto a plane looks like a tangled mess, while the Poincaré map shows the structure more clearly.

Definition
Let (R, M, φ) be a global dynamical system, with R the real numbers, M the phase space and φ the evolution function. Let γ be a periodic orbit through a point p and S be a local differentiable and transversal section of φ through p, called a Poincaré section through p.

Given an open and connected neighborhood $$U \subset S$$ of p, a function
 * $$P: U \to S$$

is called Poincaré map for the orbit γ on the Poincaré section S through the point p if
 * P(p) = p
 * P(U) is a neighborhood of p and P:U → P(U) is a diffeomorphism
 * for every point x in U, the positive semi-orbit of x intersects S for the first time at P(x)

Example
Consider the following system of differential equations in polar coordinates, $$(\theta, r)\in \mathbb{S}^1\times \mathbb{R}^+ $$:

\begin{cases} \dot{\theta} = 1\\ \dot{r} = (1-r^2)r \end{cases} $$ The flow of the system can be obtained by integrating the equation: for the $$\theta$$ component we simply have $$ \theta(t) = \theta_0 + t $$ while for the $$r$$ component we need to separate the variables and integrate:

\int \frac{1}{(1-r^2)r} dr = \int dt \Longrightarrow \log\left(\frac{r}{\sqrt{1-r^2}}\right) = t+c $$ Inverting last expression gives

r(t) = \sqrt{\frac{e^{2(t+c)}}{1+e^{2(t+c)}}} $$ and since

r(0)=\sqrt{\frac{e^{2c}}{1+e^{2c}}} $$ we find

r(t) = \sqrt{\frac{e^{2t}r_0^2}{1+r_0^2(e^{2t}-1)}} = \sqrt{\frac{1}{1+e^{-2t}\left(\frac{1}{r_0^2}-1\right)}} $$ The flow of the system is therefore

\Phi_t(\theta, r) = \left(\theta+ t, \sqrt{\frac{1}{1+e^{-2t}\left(\frac{1}{r_0^2}-1\right)}}\right) $$ The behaviour of the flow is the following: Therefore, the solution with initial data $$(\theta_0, r_0\neq 1)$$ draws a spiral that tends towards the radius 1 circle.
 * The angle $$\theta$$ increases monotonically and at constant rate.
 * The radius $$r$$ tends to the equilibrium $$\bar{r}=1$$ for every value.

We can take as Poincaré section for this flow the positive horizontal axis, namely $$ \Sigma = \{(\theta, r) \ : \ \theta =0 \} $$: obviously we can use $$r$$ as coordinate on the section. Every point in $$\Sigma$$ returns to the section after a time $$t=2\pi$$ (this can be understood by looking at the evolution of the angle): we can take as Poincaré map the restriction of $$\Phi$$ to the section $$\Sigma$$ computed at the time $$2\pi$$, $$\Phi_{2\pi}|_{\Sigma}$$. The Poincaré map is therefore :$$\Psi(r) = \sqrt{\frac{1}{1+e^{-4\pi}\left(\frac{1}{r^2}-1\right)}}$$

The behaviour of the orbits of the discrete dynamical system $$ (\Sigma, \mathbb{Z}, \Psi) $$ is the following:
 * The point $$r=1$$ is fixed, so $$\Psi^n(1)=1$$ for every $$n$$.
 * Every other point tends monotonically to the equilibrium, $$\Psi^n(z) \to 1$$ for $$n\to \pm \infty$$.

Poincaré maps and stability analysis
Poincaré maps can be interpreted as a discrete dynamical system. The stability of a periodic orbit of the original system is closely related to the stability of the fixed point of the corresponding Poincaré map.

Let (R, M, φ) be a differentiable dynamical system with periodic orbit γ through p. Let
 * $$P: U \to S$$

be the corresponding Poincaré map through p. We define

 * $$P^{0} := \operatorname{id}_{U}$$
 * $$P^{n+1} := P \circ P^n$$
 * $$P^{-n-1} := P^{-1} \circ P^{-n}$$

and

 * $$P(n, x) := P^n(x)$$

then (Z, U, P) is a discrete dynamical system with state space U and evolution function

 * $$P: \mathbb{Z} \times U \to U.$$

Per definition this system has a fixed point at p.

The periodic orbit γ of the continuous dynamical system is stable if and only if the fixed point p of the discrete dynamical system is stable.

The periodic orbit γ of the continuous dynamical system is asymptotically stable if and only if the fixed point p of the discrete dynamical system is asymptotically stable.

title: Poincaré map


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Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (株式会社三井住友銀行) is a Japanese multinational banking financial services institution owned by Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc (株式会社三井住友フィナンシャルグループ). It is headquartered in Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The group operates in retail, corporate, and investment banking segment worldwide. It provides financial products and services to a wide range of clients, including individuals, small and medium-sized enterprises, large corporations, financial institutions and public sector entities. Since 2011, it has been included into the Financial Stability Board's list of global systemically important banks.

SMBC was established in 2001 through the merger of The Sakura Bank, which originated from the Mitsui zaibatsu and was founded as Mitsui Bank in 1876, and The Sumitomo Bank, which originated from the Sumitomo zaibatsu and was founded in 1895. It is the second-largest bank in Japan in terms of total assets and market capitalization. Along with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group, SMFG is referred to as one of Japan's three major megabanks.

SMBC group operates in over 40 countries and maintains a presence in all International Financial Centres as the 12th biggest bank in the world by total assets. It is one of the largest global financial institutions in project finance space by total loan value. As of May 2020, SMBC group is listed as 80th largest public company in the world according to Forbes ranking. In 2023, the company’s seat in Forbes Global 2000 was 86.

Sakura Bank
The Sakura Bank, Limited (さくら銀行) was a Japanese bank based in Tokyo and Kobe. It was formed in April 1990 as the Mitsui Taiyo Kobe Bank (MTKB) by the merger of Mitsui Bank (founded 1876) and Taiyo Kobe Bank (founded 1973).

Sakura bank root can be traced back to July 1876 when its predecessor, Mitsui Bank, was established with capital of two million yen. It was one of the Japanese government's main banks for deposits and tax collections until the formation of the Bank of Japan in 1882. In ensuing decades, the Mitsui family took over numerous government industrial plants to form a major zaibatsu conglomerate, with the bank as one of its core businesses. Mitsui Bank reorganized as an unlimited partnership in 1893, and as a limited company (capital stock: ¥20 million) in 1909.

World War II led Mitsui Bank to distance itself from the Mitsui zaibatsu beginning around 1937, as the bank's large balance of loans to munitions manufacturers made it vulnerable to failure should a recession occur after the war. The solution found by Mitsui's chairman was to merge the bank with the Dai-Ichi Bank, creating a much larger institution outside the Mitsui family's control. In April 1943, Mitsui Bank merged with Dai-Ichi to form Teikoku Bank ("Imperial Bank").

Teikoku almost immediately found itself short of funds, and for the remainder of the war, mainly provided short-term financing, with long-term financing for its munitions manufacturing customers mostly provided by the Industrial Bank of Japan. Dai-Ichi and Mitsui had very different corporate cultures which led to friction between the two; the two banks never completely integrated, and in October 1948, Dai-Ichi Bank separated from Teikoku Bank.

Teikoku Bank listed its shares on the Tokyo and Osaka stock exchanges in May 1949 and changed its name back to Mitsui Bank in January 1954. Mitsui Bank merged with Toto Bank in April 1968.

Around 1960, Mitsui Bank and its general trading company partner Mitsui & Co. formed a horizontal keiretsu alliance between other companies descended from the Mitsui conglomerate, including Toyota, Toshiba, Toyo Menka Kaisha, Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries, Showa Aircraft and Oji Paper.

Mitsui established The Mitsui Bank of California in Los Angeles in 1974, and acquired Manufacturers Bank in 1981, merging the two later that year to form Mitsui Manufacturers Bank (renamed Manufacturers Bank in 1992).

Mitsui Bank agreed to merge with Taiyo Kobe Bank in 1989. The TKB-Mitsui merger, agreed in end of 1989 during the height of the Japanese asset price bubble, was to create the second largest bank in the world behind Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank. While TKB had a large base of individual and small business customers, Mitsui had a complementary base of larger institutional Clients. The Sakura Bank name was adopted 3 years later in April 1992. The merger was aimed at leveraging these synergies, as well as providing stronger competition against European banks, which were expected to consolidate following a deregulation in 1992.

Sakura became a major corporate and retail bank in the Greater Tokyo Area during the 1990s and was the largest retail bank in Japan by several measures, including housing loan and investment trust sales. However, Sakura incurred massive bad loan write-offs in 1998 and approached one of its major corporate customers, Toyota, for financial support, which was rejected.

Sakura led the consortium that established Japan Net Bank, an online bank, in 2000, and began talks with Sony to establish a second online banking operation in Japan.

In February 2024, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking appointed Carsten Stoehr, who had previously served 25 years at Credit Suisse, as managing director and deputy head of Asia Pacific. Stoehr’s mission is to manage structured lending and private wealth business in the region.

The Sumitomo Bank
Sumitomo Bank was established as a private enterprise in November 1895 and reorganized as a limited company with 15 million yen of capital in March 1912. It opened numerous overseas branches during the World War I era as the Sumitomo zaibatsu business globalized.

After World War II, the Sumitomo Group was dismantled and its constituent companies were forbidden from using the Sumitomo name. The bank renamed itself Osaka Bank in October 1948. In December 1952, its name was changed back to Sumitomo Bank. Sumitomo was the main bank for several major Japanese manufacturers during the early postwar era, including NEC and Panasonic (Matsushita).

In the 1970s, it lost nearly US$1 billion in the restructuring of Osaka-based general trading company Ataka & Co., which, combined with the contemporaneous bailout of Mazda, had a major impact on Sumitomo's finances, driving it down from the most profitable bank in Japan to being only ninth-ranked. However, the Ataka and Mazda bailouts enhanced Sumitomo's industry reputation by showing its dedication to customers. It became the largest Japanese bank by deposits until the merger of Dai-Ichi Bank and Nippon Kangyo Bank to form Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank.

In 1986, Sumitomo merged with Heiwa Sogo Bank to expand its presence in the Tokyo area. In the same year, it acquired 12.5% of Goldman Sachs.

Sumitomo incurred major losses during the collapse of the Japanese asset price bubble in the 1990s. In 1993 it wrote off 100 billion yen in bad loans, and in 1994 its Nagoya branch manager was murdered in possible connection with a bad debt collection. In 1995, it posted the first net loss of a major Japanese bank in the postwar era. It sold Sumitomo Bank of California, the sixth-largest bank in California, at a steep discount to Zions Bancorporation in 1998 (SBC is now part of California Bank and Trust).

In 1999, amid intensifying competition as other Japanese and foreign banks consolidated, Sumitomo announced its merger with Sakura Bank to form Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. The merger was approved in June 2000 and combined Sakura's strong retail operation and eastern Japan presence with Sumitomo's strong wholesale operation and western Japan presence.

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) was formed by the merger of The Sumitomo Bank and Sakura Bank in April 2001. Sumitomo Bank was a major Japanese bank founded in 1895; while Sakura Bank was a descendant of Mitsui Bank, another major Japanese bank founded in 1876, but with operations dating back to 1683, when the Tokugawa Shogunate granted Mitsui Takatoshi permission to act as a money changer. The merger created one of the world's largest banking group, with similar size to Deutsche Bank and the pending merger that would form Mizuho Bank. However, the newly created bank was still plagued with bad assets at that time post the asset price bubble burst (the Japanese banking industry as a whole suffered from significant non-performing loans during the 1990s and early 2000s). This led to several corporate actions taken by SMBC to clean its balance sheet and raise capital such as writing off its non-performing loans and selling its entire stake in Goldman Sachs.

In 2003, SMBC conducted reverse merger with its subsidiary, Wakashio Bank, to secure financial resources to cover large deferred losses from its equity holdings. Although SMBC was technically dissolved and Wakashio Bank became a company that survived, under the Japanese Commercial Code, the surviving entity took the name Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., just like the disbanded bank name. SMBC President Yoshifumi Nishikawa and chairman Akishige Okada became president and Chairman of the new entity respectively. Hiroyasu Ichikawa, President of Wakashio Bank, assumed the position of senior managing director. The idea of the reverse merger is to create smaller entity with excess profit. The profit, then, was used to accelerate write-offs of the bank's unrealized securities losses and boost sales of its shareholdings to reduce risk from the fluctuation of stock prices. Post the merger, the new entity grew rapidly through organic and inorganic growth strategy. The assets expanded from 102.4 trillion yen in 2003 to more than 200 trillion yen by the end of 2019, making it the 12th largest bank in the world.

At present, the bank serves as the core retail, corporate, and investment banking arm of both the namesake Sumitomo and Mitsui groups. Its traditional client base is made up of Japanese corporates, but overseas corporate lending increased following overseas expansion. SMBC's overseas network consists of 130 branches and offices in 40 countries and regions as of 2018. SMBC provides financial products and services to a wide range of clients, including individuals, small and medium-sized enterprises, large corporations, financial institutions and public sector entities. Since 2008, the Singapore branch has become SMBC's regional hub in Asia Pacific while global headquarters is still maintained in Tokyo, Japan.

SMBC's shares has become listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the Osaka Securities Exchange and the Nagoya Stock Exchange since December 2002. It has secondary listing in New York Stock Exchange. The stock tickers are tyo: 8316 and nyse: SMFG.

The bank steadily increased its tier 1 capital ratios from 12.19% in 2014 to 16.69% as reported in March 2018. Standard & Poor's, Moody's and Fitch Ratings assigned SMBC's an A1, A and A rating respectively (as at March 2018).

In April 2023, SMBC announced a plan to triple its stake in US investment bank Jefferies Financial Group bringing total ownership to as much as 15%. It was part of a broader collaboration between the two companies that would allow SMBC to take on larger rivals while advising and lending to investment-grade companies globally, in addition to working in leveraged finance and mergers and acquisitions.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG; 株式会社三井住友フィナンシャルグループ) was established in December 2002 through a share transfer from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. It acts as bank holding and financial services company of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.

In February 2003, Sumitomo Mitsui Card Company, Limited, SMBC Leasing Company, Limited, and The Japan Research Institute became wholly owned subsidiaries of SMFG.

SMFG reached an agreement in June 2004 to form a strategic alliance with Promise Co., Ltd. on consumer finance business. The two firms started collaborative business in April 2005.

The same month, SMFG reached an agreement to form a strategic alliance with NTT DoCoMo on credit card business. A portion of the shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Card held by SMFG were transferred to NTT DoCoMo, and Sumitomo Mitsui Card issued new shares and allocated them to NTT DoCoMo by means of third party allocation in July 2005. Collaborative business began in December 2005.

In September 2006, SMBC Friend Securities became a wholly owned subsidiary of SMFG and the following month, SMFG reached an agreement to pursue strategic joint business with the Sumitomo Corporation group in the leasing and auto leasing businesses.

SMFG acquired Nikko Cordial, a brokerage, from Citigroup in May 2009.

In April 2016, Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing completed the acquisition of General Electric Group's Japan-based leasing business.

Relevant timeline

 * April 2001: Sakura Bank and Sumitomo Bank merged to form Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation. (Capital stock: ¥1,276,7 billion)
 * December 2002: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) established a holding company named Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG) through a share transfer, SMBC becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of SMFG.
 * March 2003: Wakashio Bank (established June 1996) conducted reverse merger with SMBC.
 * August 2004: SMBC Group launched competing bid to acquire ailing Japanese bank UFJ, challenging a takeover of UFJ by the Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group (see Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group). While it eventually lost that bid, SMBC is credited with increasing competition within Japan's once staid banking industry.
 * July 2008: SMBC Group bought a 2.1 percent stake in Barclays Bank for £500m.
 * March 2015: SMBC Group bought HK$6.58 billion (JP¥105 billion, US$849 million) of new Bank of East Asia shares, raising SMBC's stake in the Hong Kong lender to 17.5% from 9.7%.
 * January 2019: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Indonesia merged with PT Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Nasional Tbk, also known as Bank BTPN. The group owned 96.89% ownership of the bank since the merger was completed on 1 February 2019, with Bank BTPN as the surviving brand. Indonesian authorities approved the merger in December 2018, while Japanese authorities approved the merger a month later.
 * March 2020: SMBC Group agreed to buy a 4.9 percent stake in Ares Management. As part of this agreement, the group will make a US$384 million equity investment into the firm.

Business division

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group acts as the holding company for the SMBC group. The core subsidiary of the group is the banking unit, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC).

The group's banking unit is organised in the following structure:

 * Consumer Banking Unit
 * Middle Market Unit
 * Corporate Banking Unit
 * Investment Banking Unit
 * International Banking Unit
 * Treasury Unit
 * Compliance Unit
 * Corporate Staff Unit

Throughout the years, the group has expanded into other related businesses such as leasing, brokerage and asset management. As of 2020, the major subsidiaries beside the banking unit include SMBC Nikko Securities, SMBC Trust Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management, Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing and Japan Research Institute (JRI).

Group name
The group was identified by its holding entity name, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG), until early of 2018. By March 2018, the group established "SMBC Group" as its master brand name. Since then, the corporate group has been referred to as SMBC Group instead of SMFG. The press release by the company stated the move is to associate the brand with the group's core banking business, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation.

Corporate logo
SMBC Group's corporate logo uses "Rising Mark" sign. The background color is trad green, fresh green. The "SMBC" name is shown on the right side of the rising mark with white block letters.

Mascot character
In 2014, SMBC Group created an original mascot character called Midosuke, which imitates an otter. The body of the character is green in color, the neck of it is covered by a scarf with the color similar to SMBC group's rising mark logo. The character was designed by Tsuneo Goda (Dwarf Co., Ltd.). Originally, it was used mainly for official LINE accounts but later it has been used as commercials character, face design of cash cards or debit cards, and merchandise for bank customers.

Global operations
SMBC Group has offices in:

 * 🇦🇺 Australia
 * 🇧🇭 Bahrain
 * 🇧🇪 Belgium
 * 🇧🇷 Brazil
 * 🇰🇭 Cambodia
 * 🇨🇦 Canada
 * 🇨🇱 Chile
 * 🇨🇳 China
 * 🇨🇴 Colombia
 * Czechia
 * 🇪🇬 Egypt
 * 🇫🇷 France
 * 🇩🇪 Germany
 * 🇭🇰 Hong Kong
 * 🇮🇳 India
 * 🇮🇩 Indonesia
 * 🇮🇷 Iran
 * 🇮🇪 Ireland
 * 🇮🇹 Italy
 * 🇯🇵 Japan
 * 🇲🇾 Malaysia
 * 🇲🇽 Mexico
 * 🇲🇳 Mongolia
 * 🇲🇲 Myanmar
 * 🇳🇱 Netherlands
 * 🇵🇪 Peru
 * 🇶🇦 Qatar
 * 🇷🇺 Russia
 * 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia
 * 🇿🇦 South Africa
 * 🇰🇷 South Korea
 * 🇸🇬 Singapore
 * 🇪🇸 Spain
 * 🇹🇼 Taiwan
 * 🇹🇭 Thailand
 * The Philippines
 * 🇹🇷 Turkey
 * UAE
 * 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
 * 🇺🇸 United States
 * Vietnam

Overseas subsidiaries and affiliates
The overseas subsidiaries and affiliates of SMBC Group are as follows:
 * European Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
 * SMBC Bank EU AG
 * Sumitomo Mitsui Banking (China) Co., Ltd.
 * Manufacturer's Bank
 * Brazil Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
 * PT Bank BTPN Tbk
 * Russia Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
 * Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Malaysia
 * SMBC Capital Markets Company
 * UK SMBC Nikko Capital Markets Company
 * SMBC Aviation Capital
 * SMBC Lease Finance Company
 * SMBC Rail Services LLC
 * SMBC Nikko Security America Corporation
 * SMBC Financial Services Company
 * SMC Cayman Elsie Limited
 * S.F.V.I Company
 * SMBC International Finance N.V.
 * SMC Leasing Investment LLC
 * SMC Capital Partners LLC
 * SMBC MV ISPC
 * SMBC DIP Limited
 * SMBC Derivative Products Limited
 * SMBC Capital India
 * Sumitomo Mitsui Finance Dublin
 * Sakura Finance Asia

SMBC Nikko Securities
The history of SMBC Nikko Securities can be traced back to Nikko Cordial Corporation, which was the holding company for Nikko Cordial Securities. The company was Japan's third largest brokerage until 2008, when Nikko Cordial Corporation became a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup; upon completion of share exchange, it merged with Citigroup Japan Holdings Ltd. to form Nikko Citi Holdings Inc., before changing its name to Citigroup Japan Holdings Corp. in 2009.

In October 2009, all of the operations of Nikko Cordial Securities and certain businesses of Nikko Citigroup, such as the domestic stock and bond underwriting business among others, were sold to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, before being reorganized into a new subsidiary company, SMBC Nikko Securities Inc., in April 2011. SMBC Nikko Securities becomes investment banking arm of SMBC group and offers equity and debt financing, trading, and merger and acquisition advisory services worldwide with the main base in Japan.

SMBC Aviation Capital
SMBC Aviation Capital, formerly RBS Aviation Capital, is one of the world's largest aircraft leasing companies. Headquartered in the International Financial Services Centre in Dublin and with locations in Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, Kyiv, Moscow, New York, Seattle, Miami, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo and Toulouse, the company employs 160 people.

In 2012, the company was acquired by the Japanese consortium of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing Company Limited (SMFL) and Sumitomo Corporation for US$7.3 billion which was the largest ever global sale of an aircraft leasing business. The sale completed on 1 June 2012 and the business was renamed SMBC Aviation Capital.

The company currently has a portfolio of 453 aircraft (273 owned and 180 managed) with a further 203 aircraft on order from Airbus and Boeing, made up of a mix of A320neos, A320-200s, B737-800s and B737 MAXs. It has more than 150 airline customers in over 50 countries worldwide, including a range of traditional carriers alongside start-up airlines.

Its strategy is to own and lease technologically advanced, efficient and frequently-used aircraft types. SMBC Aviation Capital maintains a young fleet with an average weighted age of 4.7 years. The company has a BBB+ rating from Fitch.

The company is now in its 15th year in business. In July 2016, the company completed a debut US$500 million unsecured notes offering, which was eight times over-subscribed.

Bank BTPN
Bank BTPN focuses on serving the mass market segment consisting of pensioners, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), productive poor communities; consuming class segment; and the corporate segment in Indonesia. By 2019, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) officially owns 96.9% of PT Bank Tabungan Pensiunan Negara Tbk (BTPN) shares. This is an increase from the previous ownership which was only 39.92%. The gain in the portion of SMBC shares in BTPN is in line with the acquisition of additional shares of 3.33 billion or around 56.98% conducted in January 2019. The shares transaction was carried out at IDR4,282 per share.

Post acquisition, the entity was merged with SMBC's subsidiary in Indonesia. In a summary of the proposed merger of BTPN and Bank Sumitomo Indonesia, the total assets and total equity of the merged bank reached a total IDR 178 trillion and IDR 26.92 trillion respectively, using financial position as of 31 May 2018. Upon the merger, BTPN became the 8th largest bank in Indonesia by total assets.

Bank of East Asia
SMBC has an ownership in Bank of East Asia (BEA). In 2015, the bank increased its investment in BEA by approximately HKD 6.6 billion, bringing SMBC's shareholding in BEA to 17.50% from 9.68% previously.

IC cash card
An IC cash card is a single cash card that can be used with three method of identification: biometric authentication, IC chip or magnetic stripe, by setting the limit and registering biometric information (finger vein pattern). With this cash card, the security of usage improved since transactions relies on IC chip recording data and the pattern of past transactions that combined IC chip recording data and biometric authentication.

As of 2017, SMBC issued IC cash cards at the bank's counters (only applicable to ordinary design deposit cash cards; cards of other designs and non-savings accounts are not eligible for immediate issuance).

Blockchain
Several Blockchain-related initiatives also has been implemented by SMBC. The bank is planning to implement the use of R3's Marco Polo trade finance blockchain, the international blockchain trade finance network, on a commercial basis by the end of 2020.

Artificial Intelligence
SMBC has been an early adopter of AI in its banking operation. It is the first Japanese bank to use IBM Watson since 2014 to support operators at its call center. AmiVoice, a voice recognition solution provided by SMBC, transforms inquiries into text on a real-time basis as a speech recognition system, while IBM Watson gives customers responses taken from service manuals and Q&As, thereby allowing digital operators to provide timely and correct answers to callers.

Environmental policy and record
In 2006 SMBC was among the first Japanese Bank to adopt the Equator Principles, an international set of social and environmental standards for financial institutions launched in 2003. The bank updated its policy to exclude the funding of ultrasupercritical coal power.

SMBC has involved in funding renewable project finance worth three trillion yen globally. As one of the leading players in finance for offshore wind power and solar energy generation, SMBC has been funding renewable power plant projects with a total capacity of more than 10 GW by 2018. Since 2016, the bank has supported 44 project finance deals in renewable energy area. The projects consist of 20 solar energy, 17 wind energy, 3 Geothermal Energy, 2 Hydropower, 1 Biomass 1 Submarine power cable, 1 waste-to-energy in the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Australasia.

However, international environmental groups have criticized SMBC for failing to adhere to its social environmental standards, because SMBC is still involved in the financing of coal projects such as the Vung Ang 2 and Nghi Son 2 coal power station in Vietnam. In December 2019, a research released at United Nations Climate Change conference named SMBC Group among the top three private lender to coal developers between January 2017 and September 2019.

SMBC also involves as one of lead arrangers for a massive oil pipeline under construction in Uganda and Tanzania. The construction of East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline is a part of a push to open oil fields around Uganda’s Lake Albert to international markets, which will be connected to the port of Tanga in Tanzania. The required investment value is estimated at US$3.5 billion. With 1,443 kilometres of length, it will be the longest heated pipeline in the world. International organizations warned the environmental risks to fresh water sources including Lake Victoria, which supports the livelihoods of more than 30 million people in the region.

Having said this, news reported that SMBC is to reconsider its prolific funding of coal-fired plants, the first of the nation's major banks to do so.

Sponsorships
SMBC and Singapore Open have a title sponsorship deal since 2016, making the Singapore top golf tournament commercially known as SMBC Singapore Open. The Singapore Open is a golf tournament in Singapore that is part of the Asian Tour schedule. The event has been held at Sentosa Golf Club since 2005 and since 2017 has been part of the Open Qualifying Series, giving up to four non-exempt players entry into The Open Championship.

In April 2015, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation became a Gold Partner (banking category) for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.

Since 2014, SMBC has owned the naming rights for the Japan Series.

SMBC branch in Tokyo Disneyland
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation is the only bank that has a branch office in Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea. The branch is the legacy of Mitsui Bank, which was a member of the Mitsui Group when Oriental Land was established. Tokyo Disney Resort project was done by Mitsui Fudosan.

The branch office in Tokyo DisneySea has an unmanned ATM section called "Nihonbashi Branch Tokyo DisneySea Branch", but staff are still assigned to the "Urayasu Branch Tokyo Disneyland Branch" (store number 593) in Tokyo Disneyland. The operating hours follow normal bank operational time. It was possible to open an account and no limitation of total handled customers, but now it is limited only to Urayasu citizens and related parties. The passbook design and the card design are not different from the one issued by ordinary SMBC's branches and cannot be visually differentiated. Previously, the Disneyland branch office also handled foreign currency exchange.

Note, SMBC is not a participating company nor official sponsor of Tokyo Disney Resort. For instance, Disney characters have been used by the Bank of Mitsubishi UFJ as an image character for over half a century since it was adopted by Mitsubishi Bank in 1962.

Yakuza exclusion ordinances
Since 2011, Japan's law regulators enacted a series of efforts to battle organized crime activities in the country. This includes exclusion ordinances that made it illegal to do business with yakuza gang members. In 2013, the Financial Services Agency, Japan's financial watchdog, started an investigation of the three mega banks over possible ties to organised crime after Mizuho banking group was accused of lending more than US$2 million to people affiliated with organized crime groups in Japan. The probe also focused on compliance practices and risk management systems of the banks.

In order to distance themselves from the yakuza, the Japanese Bankers Association's members, including SMBC Group, started to compile their own lists on yakuza and other so-called anti-social forces to keep undesirable persons from using their services.

2012 SMBC Nikko Securities insider trading probe
In June 2012, an employee of SMBC Nikko securities was arrested for alleged insider trading due to suspicions of having leaked information on tender offers. The employee allegedly provided leaked information on tender offers for at least more than 10 firms to a company top personnel and other recipients. One such piece of information was regarding a management buyout bid by a wine trading house, Enoteca Co., before the takeover bid was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Second Section in February.

The said employee worked for SMBC Nikko on secondment from Tokyo-based Sumitomo Mitsui's banking unit since October 2009. He was the deputy head of investment banking at that time and was loaned from SMBC bank. He became the first banker from a major Japanese brokerage to be detained for suspected insider trading since 2008. He was ultimately convicted by Yokohama District Court in 2013 and charged with prison sentence of 2 years and 6 months.

As a consequence of this event, The Tokyo Stock Exchange fined SMBC Nikko Securities 80 million yen (US$1.02 million).

Omori branch employee fraud
A former deputy branch manager of the Omori branch illegally operated the foreign currency deposit transaction system from November 2015 to June 2016. The employee was accused of stealing around ¥190 million (US$1.84 million) by manipulating the bank's foreign exchange trading system.

Hugh Rodley bank raid
A group of criminal hackers including Hugh Rodley, security insider Kevin O'Donoghue, and Soho sex shop owner David Nash were found guilty of an attempted high-tech robbery of £229m from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation's London branch in September 2004. Henchmen Jan Van Osselaer and Gilles Poelvoorde were also found guilty of conspiracy to steal. The plot was discovered by Sumitomo Mitsui staff, and no money was stolen. Another accused, Bernard Davies, died before trial.

Bank of East Asia dispute with Elliott Management
Hedge fund activist investor Elliott Management filed a lawsuit against BEA in July 2016 in Hong Kong court over a share placement transaction. Elliott Management, which held 7% of listed shares of BEA, had included majority of the bank's directors, its CEO and chairman in the lawsuit. The transaction in question was on BEA's issuance of new shares to Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp (SMBC) in 2015. Elliott cited "allegations of unfairly prejudicial conduct" and "alleged serious corporate governance failings".

In response, BEA applied to have Elliott's petition against them "struck out". This case was heard by Mr. Justice Jonathan Harris from 17 to 19 July 2017.

Notable current and former employees

 * Hiroaki Shukuzawa
 * Daizo Kusuda, member of the House of Representatives
 * Ichiro Miyashita, member of the House of Representatives
 * Yoshio Kimura, member of the House of Councillors in the Japan Diet office
 * Laurel Powers-Freeling

title: Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation


text:
Talk:MapQuest

First edit
This is my first WikiPedia edit. I thought MapQuest could use an actual article. Hopefully, this is at least a start. --RealityDistortionField 03:15, 4 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Sponsors?
I noticed nothing speaking about the fact that Mapquest gives certain directions so you pass by businesses who sponsor their site. Any validity behind this? --Toddd 06:14, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Mapquest.JPG
Image:Mapquest.JPG is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 05:21, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

 * The image in questions has been removed, Image:Mapquest.JPG, so I think we can delete the fair use discussion point regarding it. - Dave Slinn, 23:01 April 8, 2009 UTC —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.165.52.112 (talk) 23:03, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

360 View
Anyone know when MapQuest's 360 View launched? It probably deserves an article mention. Mapsax (talk) 23:46, 26 April 2010 (UTC)

Introduction makes no sense
"MapQuest is an American free online web mapping service owned by AOL. The company was founded in 1967"

The introduction doesn't mention a company at all, and it even implies that in 1967 the mapquest online service was launched. Perhaps this section should be rewritten/ 115.64.159.41 (talk) 14:55, 29 March 2011 (UTC)

Tile access
This should be covered in some way as a proper source is found: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/38315300/mapquest-direct-tile-access-discontinued --Nemo 09:08, 30 July 2016 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on MapQuest. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120511054156/http://corp.aol.com/products-services/local to http://corp.aol.com/products-services/local

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 10:52, 1 June 2017 (UTC)

title: Talk:MapQuest


text:
Dolls Point, New South Wales

Dolls Point is a small suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Dolls Point is located 17 km south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the St George area. Dolls Point is in the local government area of the Bayside Council.

History
Dolls Point was originally a deserted landscape, which was considered uninhabitable. The origins of the name are unclear but legend has it that it was named for an escaped convict who took shelter in the dire landscape to hide from the authorities.

The area between Cooks River and Georges River was originally known as Seven Mile Beach. It was changed to Lady Robinsons Beach in 1874 to honour the wife of Governor Sir Hercules Robinson. Cook Park is named after Samuel Cook who advocated it as a public pleasure area.

Historic Primrose House became the Royal South Sydney Community Health Centre.

Geography
Dolls Point takes its name from the geographical formation on Botany Bay. Cook Park runs along the eastern border and the beach stretches from Dolls Point to Sandringham Bay. Dolls Point is a quiet residential suburb that has managed to maintain an uncluttered landscape. Its village feel makes it a family friendly neighbourhood. It is home to fine sailing, water views and abundant parkland.

Dolls Point beach
One of the main attractions is Doll Point Beach, which has the whitest sand in Sydney. Fishing and kite surfing are popular activities in the beach. The beach sets out at the rock groyne and continues to the southwest for 550 metres past a seawall and a small tidal pool to a western deviation in the sandy shore at a groyne in front of a sailing club in Georges River. The beach is fairly precipitous and reflective, which is opposite of the deep 1 km wide river mouth to Towra Point.

Commercial area
A small group of shops, along with the Sans Souci Library, are located at the intersection of Clareville Avenue and Russell Avenue, on the border with Sans Souci and Sandringham.

Population
According to the 2016 census of Population, there were 1,661 residents in Dolls Point. 62.3% of people were born in Australia. 56.3% of people spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Greek at 12.6%. The most common responses for religious affiliation were Catholic 26.1%, Eastern Orthodox 20.0%, No Religion 17.1% and Anglican 10.3%.

title: Dolls Point, New South Wales


text:
John Churchill Chase

John Churchill Chase (1905–1986) was a cartoonist and writer. He was known for his editorial cartoons and his works on the history of his native New Orleans and Louisiana in the United States.

Career
After high school in New Orleans, Chase attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. He worked as assistant cartoonist to Frank King at the Chicago Tribune on the popular comic strip Gasoline Alley and other cartoons, before returning to New Orleans in 1927 to become editorial cartoonist for the New Orleans Item. He would continue this role through 1964, by which time the newspaper had become The States-Item. Chase's chief character in his cartoons was "Mr. New Orleans" or "The Little Man", who was typically dressed in a 19th-century long coat with a top hat, bushy moustache and glasses.

He is the author of the book Frenchmen, Desire, Good Children and Other Streets of New Orleans. This book went through several popular editions from the 1960s through 1997, and has gone on to be widely acclaimed as a great chronicling of the history of New Orleans through the naming of its streets.

Chase's other works include the book Louisiana Purchase: an American Story.

He composed editorial cartoons on television on WDSU during the 1960s. Other art works of his included a mural depicting the history of New Orleans in cartoons for the main branch of the New Orleans Public Library. In a departure from his usual work, in 1960 Chase produced a large "Transfiguration" in stained glass over the vestibule of St. Dominic Catholic Church in New Orleans.

Chase taught New Orleans history at Tulane University, sometimes collaborating with Pie Dufour on classroom instruction, and cartooning at the University of New Orleans. For many years, his cartoons graced the football game programs at Tulane University, which maintains an exhibit of his artworks for their football programs.

He also created cartoons and illustrations for projects outside of New Orleans. One of his notable projects was a series of cartoons featuring the Texas Longhorns' mascot "Bevo" for the University of Texas at Austin in the 1950s and 1960s.

Tributes
A small street in the New Orleans Central Business District was named "John Churchill Chase" after his death. This was a section of street formerly named Calliope (one of a series of streets in the area named after the Muses). This street runs perpendicular to the Mississippi River, through the New Orleans Warehouse District, about two blocks downriver (north, at this point) from the Crescent City Connection Bridge.

Selected works

 * Chase, John Churchill. Frenchmen, Desire, Good Children and Other Streets of New Orleans, 1st ed. New Orleans: Crager, 1949.
 * Chase, John Churchill. Today's Cartoon, Hauser Press, New Orleans, 1962.
 * Allen, Edison B. Of Time and Chase, 1st. ed New Orleans: Hambersham, 1969

title: John Churchill Chase


text: User talk:144.134.57.30

title: User talk:144.134.57.30


text:
Talk:Master

Comments
This is rather an odd page. It looks like it can't decide whether to be an disambig. page or a collection of stubs. Quill 03:19, 4 Aug 2004 (UTC)

If it is to continue in this form I think the Master section should be expanded into separate sections for the usage of master of a merchant vessel, sailing master, master and commander, and master commandant. Master Commandant is what the early US Navy called a Master and Commander. Geo Swan 19:03, 31 Oct 2004 (UTC)

You're right. It probably should become a disambiguation page and some of the definitions hived off to separate pages. -- Necrothesp 19:58, 31 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * And what do you call a smallholder? Another master perhaps?

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.36.87.103 (talk • contribs) 12:07, 8 March 2005 (UTC)

Master Obsolete?
More recently is was used as a title for boys and unmarried men, but it is now almost entirely obselete.

Is this really true? All the mail I recieved as a boy was addressed to Master ....., and I'm only 19.

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.26.206.130 (talk • contribs) 12:23, 17 August 2005 (UTC)

This page is horrendous. Master meant "teacher" which is why in Spanish, a teacher is called a maestra or maestro depending on the sex. The latin root shows you why the term is used with a composer. The term is not used exclusively for men, either, as demonstrated by the previous example. In the Bible, Jesus Christ was called master by his disciples. It did not mean they were his slaves, but rather he was their "teacher." Today the Jews use the word Rabbi, although there are etymological differences. The only thing that you are a master of is a masturbator. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.24.143.228 (talk • contribs) 02:37, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

Regarding its use for teachers, I agree that currently gender-neutral terminology is in vogue in Great Britain, and probably other English-speaking countries, but many of us can remember having a headmaster or headmistress, and being taught by a French master or sewing mistress, though the latter usage began to sound old fashioned before the former. Children and teachers seem to find the term quaint, so it is probably not in regular use by them any more. I recall having to reply "Salve, magister" or "Salve, magistra" (as appropriate) when a Latin teacher addressed the class with "Salvete, discipuli!" Here I am referring to usage forty years ago in ordinary Scottish schools, funded by the state through local government, and not the fee-paying Public Schools of the English elite. NRPanikker (talk) 10:01, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

categories
I added the cleanup tag b/c it needs to be split into categories. Gflores Talk 05:42, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

Masters
I'ld quite like to take Masters as a surname away to a separate hndisambig page. Richard Pinch 08:09, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Merger proposal (2015) Master and The Master

 * The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.

As with Doctor, and in line with WP:DPAGE, I think it is best that Master and The Master (both disambiguation pages) be merged, as there is lot of duplication. 19:00, 9 May 2015 (UTC)
 * No comments for a week. I will go ahaead and merge.  15:54, 17 May 2015 (UTC)

 * The above discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section.

title: Talk:Master