Mizuho Financial Group

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Mizuho Financial Group, Inc.
株式会社みずほフィナンシャルグループ
Public
Traded as TYO: 8411
OSE: 8411
NYSEMFG
Industry Banking, Financial Services
Predecessors Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank
Fuji Bank
Industrial Bank of Japan
Founded 2001; 23 years ago (2001)
Headquarters Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan
Key people
Yasuhiro Sato
(President & CEO)
Products Credit cards, consumer banking, corporate banking, investment banking, global wealth management, financial analysis, private equity
Revenue ¥2.111 trillion (2012)
¥662.83 billion (2012)
¥656.38 billion (2012)
Total assets ¥166.36 trillion (2012)
Total equity ¥4.470 trillion (2012)
Number of employees
56,109 (2012)
Subsidiaries Mizuho Bank
Mizuho Corporate Bank
Mizuho Trust & Banking
Slogan Channel to Discovery
ONE Mizuho
Website www.mizuho-fg.co.jp
Mizuho Bank branch in Ginza
Mizuho annual income by division (2005).
1. Mizuho Bank
2. Mizuho Corporate Bank
3. Mizuho Trust
4. Mizuho Securities

Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (株式会社みずほフィナンシャルグループ Kabushiki-gaisha Mizuho Finansharu Gurūpu?), abbreviated as MHFG, or simply called Mizuho, is a banking holding company headquartered in the Ōtemachi district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The name "mizuho (瑞穂?)" literally means "abundant rice" in Japanese and "harvest" in the figurative sense.

It holds assets in excess of $2 trillion US dollars through its control of Mizuho Bank, Mizuho Corporate Bank, and other operating subsidiaries.[1] The company's combined holdings form the second largest financial services group in Japan. Its banking businesses rank the third in Japan after Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, and the ninth in the world by market capitalisation as of November 2009.[2] It is the 59th largest company in the world according to Forbes Global 2000 rankings. Its shares have a primary listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Mizuho offers a range of financial services, including banking, securities, trust and asset management services, employing more than 68,000 people in 30 countries. It also functions as one of the main companies of the keiretsu Mizuho Group, formed from the former DKB Group and the former Fuyo Group.

Divisions and brands

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

Retail Group

Mizuho is active in retail banking with 515 branches and over 11,000 automated teller machines (ATMs). Mizuho Bank is the only bank, other than Japan Post Bank, to have branches in every prefecture in Japan. It serves over 26 million Japanese households, 90,000 SME customers, and retail brokerage clients under the name Mizuho Investors Securities nationwide.

Global Corporate Group

Mizuho predecessors, the Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank (“DKB”), the Fuji Bank (“Fuji”) and the Industrial Bank of Japan (“IBJ”), had great control over many Japanese companies through keiretsu system. The three banks led the DKB Group, Fuyo Group and the IBJ Group respectively. The Fuyo Group traces its history as far back as the old Yasuda zaibatsu. Even now, seven out of ten companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange have dealings with Mizuho.[3]

Global Wealth and asset management

  • Mizuho Trust
  • Mizuho Private Wealth Management
  • Mizuho Asset Management
  • DIAM

Strategy affiliates

Offices

Sponsorship

History

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.

Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. was established in January 2003 to become the parent company to Mizuho Holdings, Inc. in preparation for its restructuring of businesses. Subsequently, through a share exchange on March 12, 2003, Mizuho Financial Group became the sole shareholder of Mizuho Holdings, which in turn served as the holding company of all of the group's banking and securities units.

On October 1, 2005, all subsidiaries of Mizuho Holdings were transferred to the direct control of Mizuho Financial Group. Mizuho Holdings, no longer a bank holding company, was then renamed Mizuho Financial Strategy, which now focuses on providing advisory services.

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. Its entry was late, in December 2006; it did not participate in gains; only suffered losses. It is the Asian bank which suffered the most losses due to the crisis. The venture into this field has been traced to the employment of Alexander Rekeda, a specialist in this field hired away from Calyon, a unit of Crédit Agricole. Rekeda was made "head of structured credit in the Americas" where he floated several deals that turned toxic. He was later fired and Mizuho shut down its US CDO business. Examples of these CDOs included the "Aardvark", "Tigris", and "Delphinius" CDOs.[4] The latter two involved the Magnetar hedge fund.[5] Ironically, Calyon had sued Mizuho for hiring away Rekeda and other CDO experts in 2007.[6]

Timeline

  • 1864: Yasuda-ya is founded as a private company.
  • 1883: The Dai-Ichi Bank, Ltd. is established as the first bank in Japan.
  • 1897: The Nippon Kangyo Bank, Ltd. and the Industrial Bank of Japan, Limited are established as a governmental institution.
  • 1912: Yasuda-ya is incorporated and renamed Yasuda Bank.
  • 1948: Yasuda Bank is renamed the Fuji Bank, Limited.
  • 1950: The Nippon Kangyo Bank and IBJ are privatized.
  • 1971: The Dai-ichi Bank and the Nippon Kangyo Bank merge to form the Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, Limited.
  • 1999: DKB, Fuji and IBJ announce an agreement to consolidate the three banks' operations.
  • 2000: DKB, Fuji and IBJ establish a holding company named Mizuho Holdings, Inc.
  • 2002: DKB, Fuji and IBJ are officially and legally combined into two banks, Mizuho Bank, Ltd. and Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd.
  • 2003: Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. takes over the operations of Mizuho Holdings virtually.
  • 2006: Mizuho is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol MFG.
  • 2009: Mizuho established an alliance with and invested in Evercore Partners Inc.[7]

Notable employees

See also

Competitors

References

  1. http://www.mizuho-fg.co.jp/english/investors/financial/fin_statements/data11/pdf/fy.pdf
  2. "The Top 1000 World Banks 2006", The Banker, 3 July 2006.
  3. IR Presentation at “CLSA Japan Forum 2005” 7 March 2005
  4. 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. Timeline of Magnetar Deals by Jake Bernstein, Jesse Eisinger and Krista Kjellman Schmidt, ProPublica, April 9, 2010
  6. Calyon Cries Foul: French bank seeks retribution after CDO team defects to Mizuho, Investment Dealers' Digest, March 26, 2007, Pyburn, Allison
  7. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links