Mizuho Financial Group Inc. is unlikely to follow its Japanese rivals by teaming up with a US bank as part of its expansion in the world’s largest economy, its chief executive officer said.
“It’s not our way,” CEO Masahiro Kihara said at a news briefing in Tokyo, when asked whether he would pursue an alliance with a US lender. “We should rather build up our capabilities on our own, through organic and inorganic ways.”
Kihara said that globally Mizuho may seek acquisitions in asset management or investment banking. In a three-year plan announced earlier this week, Japan’s third-largest lender said its overseas investment banking business is one key focus area.
Japanese banks have been expanding US operations as they seek to take market share. Mizuho has been hiring bankers from Credit Suisse Group AG, including leveraged finance managing director Stephen Brinkmann.
Mizuho’s next move in the US is in the spotlight after Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. last month said it will expand a tieup with Jefferies Financial Group Inc. to boost US capital markets and M&A advisory businesses. Japan’s largest bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. has a more than decade-old alliance with Morgan Stanley.
