Kentaro Shibata

Managing Director, Chief Governance Officer
Kentaro (Ken) Shibata joined SMBC MANUBANK in May 2024 as Managing Director, Chief Governance Officer, a newly established position. He came to the bank from Japanese and Asian Corporate Banking Department of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) in New York, where he served as Managing Director and General Manager in charge of internal control and risk management.

As Chief Governance Officer, Ken is responsible for enhancing the bank’s governance framework to align with organizational objectives based on expectations from various stakeholders and industry best practices.

Ken joined SMBC in April 1997. His career background includes more than 14 years of corporate banking business in Los Angeles, New York, and Tokyo. He also spent 7 years engaging in business development and investments in financial institutions in Southeast Asian markets as part of SMBC Group’s Multi-Franchise strategy. Between 2016 and 2018, Ken was seconded to a large local Vietnamese bank in which SMBC held minority stake in order to lead strategic planning.