Mizuho Financial Group

Mizuho was established originally as Mizuho Holdings, Inc. by the merger of Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, Fuji Bank, and the Industrial Bank of Japan in 2000. The earliest history of the companies that formed the Mizuho group was Yasuda-ya, which was founded as a private company in 1864.[10] Then in 1872 the Dai-Ichi Bank, Ltd. was established as the first bank in Japan to be established under the nation’s newly minted National Bank Act of 1872. In 1897 the Nippon Kangyo Bank, Ltd. and the Industrial Bank of Japan, Limited were next established as governmental institutions.[11] In 1912 Yasuda-was incorporated and renamed Yasuda Bank, in a process where Yasuda absorbed the assets and business of seventeen different Japanese banking institutions.[12]

In 1948 Yasuda Bank was itself renamed the Fuji Bank, Limited. Over the coming years, Fuji Bank would serve as the major financier for post-war Japanese economic growth, working with other major banks as partners when it was at risk of over-extending its funds.[13] In 1950 the Nippon Kangyo Bank and IBJ were re-privatized after serving as semi-public banks for decades, following a recommendation from the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers General Douglas MacArthur and the United States during the post-World War II economic reforms.[14] In 1971 the Dai-ichi Bank and the Nippon Kangyo Bank merged to form the Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, Limited.[11] Mizuho itself was created from the remnants of these mergers, and in 1999 DKB, Fuji and IBJ announce an agreement to consolidate the three banks' operations.[15] This resulted in the establishment of the holding company named Mizuho Holdings, Inc in the year 2000. Then in 2002 DKB, Fuji and IBJ were officially and legally combined into two banks,[16] Mizuho Bank, Ltd. and Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd.[17] Initially Mizuho traded under the ticker symbol MHHD on the London Stock Exchange.[18]

The merger resulted in the world’s first trillion-dollar bank, with its $1.2 trillion in assets surpassing the next largest bank by about $480 billion. The move has been considered to have formed one of the first “mega-institutions” in the financial industry, beginning a trend in the industry of large-scale bank mergers referred to as the “consolidation movement” during the 2000s.[19] Though while other mega-institutions were composed of one major player and several minor ones, Mizuho was composed of three relatively equal institutions in terms of their size and influence.[20] It remained the largest mega-bank in the world until 2005.[16]

The name “Mizuho” means “new, bountiful, and rich harvest of rice” in Japanese.[21] The original structure saw the founding of the Mizuho Bank, focusing on individuals and SMEs, and the Mizuho Corporate Bank, which focuses on corporate entities.[22] The initial strategy of the company was to expand its lending operations with individuals and SMEs, and begin to offer fee-based services including securitizations, merger and acquisitions support, security-based investment banking, and syndicated loans. At the time, Mizuho controlled about 50% of the syndicated loans market.[23] Mizuho also launched one of the first Internet-based securities products in 2000.[24]

In 2003, Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. took over the operations of Mizuho Holdings.[16] On October 1, 2005, all subsidiaries of Mizuho Holdings were transferred to the direct control of Mizuho Financial Group.[16] Mizuho Holdings, no longer a bank holding company, was then renamed Mizuho Financial Strategy, which now focuses on providing advisory services.[25] Mizuho Financial Group was in turn listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol MFG in 2006.[26]

Mizuho, through its operations in New York, became involved in the subprime mortgage crisis and lost 7 billion dollars on the sale of collateralized debt obligations backed by subprime mortgages. It is the Asian bank which suffered the most losses due to the crisis.[27] In 2012 Mizuho Financial Group acquire 100% of the assets from Brazilian bank Banco WestLB do Brasil S.A.[28] In 2014 the company underwent a board of directors reform in order to streamline its corporate culture into a more of a single identity, although its original board founded in 2002 was consistent with Japanese banking protocols.[20] In 2016 they opened their global transactions banking headquarters in Singapore, and have offices for this unit in China, Hong Kong, Tokyo, London, and New York City.[29] That year they also began a partnership with Cognizant, to develop block-chain methods of securing the banks private records.[30]

Mizuho splits its business into four distinct divisions, on a global basis:

• 
  Former Mizuho Financial Group headquarters (now Otemachi Tower), formerly Fuji Bank head office, in Ōtemachi, Tokyo until 2014
• 
  Mizuho Bank head office in Uchisaiwaicho, Tokyo (see also Mizuho Bank Uchisaiwaichō Head Office Building)
• 
  Mizuho Corporate Bank head office, formerly the Industrial Bank of Japan head office, bordering MHFG HQ in Ōtemachi, Tokyo
• 
  Mizuho Securities Co. occupies Ōtemachi First Square, bordering MHFG HQ, in Ōtemachi, Tokyo.

Mizuho is a sponsor of the Tokyo International Marathon[39] and the 2020 Olympic Games and 2020 Paralympic Games.[40]

• Yoichiro Esaki, member of the House of Representatives
• Rin Ishigaki, poet
• Hirotaka Ishihara, member of the House of Representatives, son of Shintaro Ishihara
• Zenkichi Kojima, mayor of Shizuoka, Shizuoka
• Takeaki Matsumoto, member of the House of Representatives
• Shoichi Nakagawa, Minister of Finance, Minister of State in charge of Financial Services (2008–2009)
• Kei Ogura, singer
• Stanley Praimnath, survivor of the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001
• Mitsu Shimojo, member of the House of Representatives
• Yukio Tomioka, member of the House of Councillors

In September 2013, a routine regulatory control unveiled that Mizuho enabled loans of up to $1.9 million to the Yakuza Japanese mafia. It also appeared that loans to the mob had been approved through its affiliate credit company Orient Corp. This scandal led to the resignation of the group's CEO Takashi Tsukamoto.[41][42]

In December 2019, a report named Mizuho as the top private lender to coal developers between January 2017 and September 2019.[43] In March 2020, Japanese NGO Kiko Network filed the first climate related shareholder resolution with a Japanese company proposing Mizuho align its investments with the goals of the Paris Agreement.[44] As of April 2020, three Scandinavian pension funds with a combined $178 Billion AUM expressed their support for the resolution.[45]

• Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank
• Fuji Bank
• Industrial Bank of Japan
• List of banks in Japan

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mizuho Financial Group.

• Mizuho Financial Group
• Mizuho Financial Group Inc. by Google Finance
• Mizuho Watch by Inner City Press