Mizuho Bank

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Mizuho Bank Head Office, formerly known as the Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank Head Office, near the Imperial Palace in Tokyo

Mizuho Bank Ginza branch

Mizuho Bank, Ltd. (株式会社みずほ銀行, Kabushiki-gaisha Mizuho Ginkō^?) is the core retail banking unit of Mizuho Financial Group, which is the second-largest financial services company in Japan and one of the three so-called Japanese "megabanks" (along with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group). Its headquarters are located in the Uchisaiwaicho district of Chiyoda, Tokyo.

Mizuho Bank has 515 branches and over 11,000 ATMs, and is the only bank to have branches in every prefecture in Japan. It serves over 26 million Japanese households and 90,000 SME customers.

The name “Mizuho” is an archaic Japanese term meaning “golden ears of rice,” and was used in the classical text Nihon Shoki to describe Japan.

[edit] History

Mizuho Bank was established on April 1, 2002 by the merger of Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank with the retail operations of Fuji Bank and the Industrial Bank of Japan. All three predecessors were major financial institutions in their own right and had served as cornerstones of major zaibatsu (prewar era) and keiretsu (postwar era).

In the merger of the three banks, Dai-Ichi Kangyo was renamed Mizuho Bank and inherited the group's individual, small business and local/regional government services, while institutional banking services were consolidated into Fuji Bank, which was renamed Mizuho Corporate Bank.

The two banks were initially consolidated under a holding company, Mizuho Holdings. On October 1, 2005 they were transferred to a new holding vehicle, Mizuho Financial Group.

[edit] Services

• Current accounts.
• Cash cards for use in Japan only.
• International cash cards.
• International money transfers.
• Credit cards.
• Saving accounts.
• Loans.
• Internet Banking.
• Website.

All services, including Internet Banking and the main website are in Japanese only. Some branches hire English-speaking employees. All services except for international cash cards, credit cards and international money transfers are limited within the territory of Japan.

Restrictions on foreign nationals apply, particularly loans are available only for Japanese nationals and permanent residents of Japan holding permanent employment.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] See also

• Mizuho Financial Group
• Mizuho Corporate Bank

[edit] External links

• Mizuho Bank
• (Japanese) Mizuho Bank
• Mizuho Financial Group