This week, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.’s early-career-focused recruiters will descend on college campuses near Charlotte, North Carolina.
The effort to recruit summer 2027 interns and analysts is a key part of the Japanese bank’s strategy to staff the second U.S. headquarters it’s building in the city, said Robin Milberg, chief human resources officer at SMBC. The bank, which also operates out of New York City, has committed to adding 2,000 jobs and investing $50.5 million in the area over the next six years.
SMBC has had a presence in Charlotte since 2022, and now has about 300 people based in the city, Milberg said. The lender is moving to 301 S. College St. in the city’s Uptown neighborhood next month, and that space will ultimately accommodate the 2,000 hires. The bank’s U.S. business focuses on commercial and investment banking, project finance and sales and trading.
Earlier this year, SMBC hired Donna Hart, who had been chief information security officer at Ally, to serve in the same role at SMBC. The lender is largely focused on staffing technology, cybersecurity, data, operations and human-resources roles in Charlotte, Milberg said in a recent interview.
More than 100,000 people work in financial services in the Charlotte area, according to the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance. Still, with Bank of America and Truist headquartered in the city and a number of others such as JPMorgan Chase and Canadian lender TD chasing growth in the market, “there is a lot of competition for good talent,” Milberg said.
SMBC is hiring in phases, she said. The bank plans to hire smaller numbers this year and next, before ramping up in the following years, she said. About 80 people have been hired since April, and about 90 open roles are posted now.
“We’re spending a lot of time with our senior managers here, to determine what are the actual roles and what’s the timing,” Milberg said. “A big part of our strategy, of course, is we want to ensure that our business is sustainable. We want to make sure that we have the right talent in place in New York, and that we're finding the right talent in Charlotte as well.”
Charlotte’s large, experienced talent pool, given its status as the country’s second-largest banking center after New York City, and its proximity to a number of universities influenced SMBC’s decision to make the Queen City another hub, Milberg said.
In pursuing interns for next year, SMBC is fostering relationships with University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Davidson College and Wake Forest University, among others, Milberg said.
“North Carolina has a lot of schools, and we're very interested in recruiting talent out of those schools,” Milberg said.
The bank seeks to cultivate “long-term relationships” with the colleges, and networking on campus helps job candidates understand who SMBC is, she said. “That’s really how we like to get that early-career talent in, is as interns and then convert them over to permanents the following year,” she said.
The bank had close to 150 interns this past summer, some of whom have been offered jobs in Charlotte and accepted, she added.
The bank established its intern and analyst programs about five years ago, to match the way other banks operate and get young talent in the door earlier, she said.
“There's a way to recruit that every bank uses, and you have to really follow the model in order to be competitive,” she said. “The expectation is … any candidate would think, I want to be at a place that's doing it the same way, and I'm getting the same kind of developmental experiences as my peers at another bank.”
SMBC recognized that “you have to be in the market earlier, you have to have a very competitive salary, you have to have even similar swag, to attract the best talent,” Milberg said.
Competitive offers are even more crucial as the bank works to draw 100 or more senior hires at a time, she noted. Charlotte hires will earn an average salary of $165,686, according to the City of Charlotte.
Milberg contends the bank’s growth story is an advantage in the fight for talent. Most experienced workers who’ve joined the bank are “looking for opportunities to build something and to grow with an organization,” she said. “They’re looking for a place to really put their own stamp on.”
“Most other banks, at this point, can’t give that,” she said.
Earlier this year, SMBC wound down its digital bank, Jenius Bank, and sold $2.6 billion in U.S. consumer deposits to Axos Financial. SMBC is also offloading its commercial unit to Los Angeles-based Bank of Hope for an undisclosed sum, the banks said March 31. The deal is expected to close later in 2026.
