Mizuho Has More of a Focus on Large Corporate Borrowers Than Some Other Japanese Banks

Mizuho Financial Group is one of Japan’s three largest banking groups, with a 6.8% share of domestic loans and 8.5% share of deposits as of March 2024. Mizuho lacks the large consumer finance, credit card, and leasing operations of its two rivals, leaving it dependent on banking, securities and asset management for future returns. Its wholesale securities business has been performing well, in our view, including overseas. In 2023, Mizuho bought investment banking firm Greenhill, which should bolster its league-table rankings in M&A advisory to complement Mizuho's existing strength in debt capital markets (with equity capital markets business overseas also growing).