Mizuho Financial Group, Inc.

Metaplanet acquired former Siiibo Securities, which handles privately placed corporate bonds, for 210 million yen and changed its name to Metaplanet Securities in July; the subsidiary securities firm recounted the two months leading up to the acquisition. On September 29, the Financial Services Agency announced it would support a pilot program using stablecoins for trade settlement, with six companies participating: TradeWaltz, NTT Data, Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking. On September 28, Coinbase announced on X that it will soon offer a service allowing users to open Pokémon card packs on smartphones. On October 2, Metaplanet corrected a total of four documents including previously filed annual securities reports, revising a statement that CEO Simon Gerovich indirectly holds a majority of voting rights in shareholder MMXX Ventures Limited to clarify that he does not hold a majority. On September 30, KDDI, au Coincheck Digital Assets, and HashPort announced they will begin offering the crypto asset wallet αU wallet as a mini app within the au PAY app.

Five major banks including MUFG Bank announced on the 30th the mortgage rates to apply in October. For the variable-rate preferential rates used by most borrowers, Resona Bank, Mizuho Bank, and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank raised their rates by 0.25 to 0.62 percentage points from the previous month, bringing Resona to 1.25%, Mizuho to 1.275%, and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust to 1.7%. MUFG and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation left their rates unchanged, but all banks raised their fixed rates. With this revision, variable rates now exceed 1% at all banks, reflecting the rise in the benchmark short-term prime rate following the Bank of Japan's rate hike in June. The Bank of Japan decided on an additional rate hike at its September meeting, and this is expected to be reflected in variable rates going forward. For the 10-year fixed preferential rate, all five banks raised their rates by 0.12 to 0.77 percentage points from the previous month in light of rising long-term interest rates, with MUFG at 3.75%, Sumitomo Mitsui at 4%, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust at 4.965%, Mizuho at 3.6%, and Resona at 4.205%.

Japan's Financial Services Agency announced on September 29 that it has decided to support a proof-of-concept experiment using stablecoins for trade settlement. Six companies will take part: TradeWaltz, NTT Data, Mizuho Bank, MUFG Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, and Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation. The pilot, running from September for the time being, will link the trade information platform TradeWaltz with a stablecoin infrastructure, examining technical and legal issues with the aim of speeding up trade settlement and making paperwork more efficient. In the experiment, exporting companies will submit export documents to banks on TradeWaltz, and settlement via stablecoin will be triggered by the bank's approval of the purchase of export receivables. The scope will initially be limited to the purchase of export receivables and fund settlement between exporting companies and banks, rather than all settlements across a trade transaction, so that practical issues can be identified within a specific area of operations. The FSA set up its Payments Innovation Project in November 2025, and this experiment is the fourth supported under that project and the fifteenth overall for the FinTech Proof-of-Concept Hub.

Major Japanese bank stocks rose on Friday as a surge in government bond yields and expectations of more interest rate hikes pointed to improving margins for local lenders. Mizuho Financial, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Japan Post Bank, and Resona jumped between 3.2% and 4.5%, underpinning an over 1% rise in the Nikkei 225. Japanese government bond yields surged this week, with the 10-year rate hitting a 30-year high as rising oil prices fueled concerns over rising inflation and interest rates. Bets on more Bank of Japan rate hikes also underpinned Japanese banks, after the BOJ raised rates by 25 basis points last week and warned of more such moves in the coming months. Japan Post was an outperformer in the group, given that the lender's massive government bond book allows it to earn more on reinvesting at higher yields.

Mizuho Securities President Yoshiro Hamamoto said in an interview with Reuters that he intends to make attracting investment into Japan by overseas companies and investors a priority strategy. Hamamoto pointed out that "when it comes to Japanese companies' M&A, overseas expansion inevitably tends to be the main focus, but drawing in investment into Japan from Western companies will be extremely important," adding that "the strategic focus going forward is, if anything, more on that side." In allocating limited capital and personnel, he made clear the policy of emphasizing ROE and inbound business, prioritizing highly profitable U.S. deals and Japan-related deals aimed at strengthening industrial capabilities. He described overseas investors' investment in Japanese equities as "rice, the staple food," while saying that "the big steak is, after all, finding land for a semiconductor plant and arranging financing for it," indicating his view that there are major profit opportunities in deals supporting overseas companies seeking to enter Japan. Mizuho Securities will leverage group functions including Mizuho Bank and Mizuho Trust & Banking to support overseas companies and funds in land acquisition, fundraising, joint ventures and equity investments with domestic companies, and acquisitions. In its investment banking division, the firm is expanding personnel both in Japan and overseas, increasing sector bankers globally, while in Japan, as M&A deals run at record-high levels and advisory personnel are in short supply, he indicated the need to add several dozen staff, mainly junior bankers.

Simon Gerovich, CEO of Metaplanet, said in a post on X on September 6 that the company is continuing to review its compensation and governance policies, and, in response to questions and criticism from shareholders, he again explained the intent behind management decisions and the company's efforts toward long-term shareholder value. One of the points of debate over the compensation system is the dilution of shares through the 10th stock acquisition rights for officers and employees. The circulation of the Japanese yen stablecoin JPYC continues to decline, and according to the on-chain data aggregation site JPYC Info, it fell from about 2.708 billion JPYC on August 30 to about 2.097 billion JPYC on September 6, a decrease of about 600 million yen in value over one week. Asset Management One, an asset management company under the Mizuho group, has hired analyst Yoshifumi Nishiyama with an eye toward crypto asset ETFs, and he announced his joining the company on his social media on September 7. The National Sheriffs' Association, a U.S. law enforcement organization, said in a letter on September 3 that it was withdrawing its opposition to the Clarity Act, which defines the market structure for crypto assets, and shifting to a neutral stance. On September 11, the Financial Services Agency issued a warning to Bit Hills, which operates the crypto asset collateralized loan CryptoPawn, saying it was conducting a money lending business without registration.

On September 1, 21 major global financial institutions, including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and MUFG, announced plans to establish a new company in late 2026 to support the issuance of stablecoins. The company's name has not yet been decided, and it will initially focus on U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoins, aiming for market launch in the first half of 2027. The plan includes expanding to other G7 currencies such as the euro in the future. Participating banks include Citi, Wells Fargo, Deutsche Bank, UBS, Banco Santander, and Fidelity Investments, spanning 21 banks across North America, Europe, East Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. This represents a doubling of the scope initially announced by 10 banks in October 2025. The use cases will span wholesale, institutional investors, and retail, with applications in cross-border payments and digital asset settlement. Where applicable, the company aims to comply with the U.S. GENIUS Act and the EU's MiCA regulations. With the stablecoin market capitalization reaching $303.7 billion (approximately ¥48.6 trillion), and Tether's USDT holding about 60% of the market, the banking consortium's entry is a move to challenge this oligopoly. From Japan, only MUFG is participating, and the bank plans to jointly issue trust-type yen-denominated stablecoins with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Mizuho Bank, aiming to begin actual transactions during fiscal 2026.

Five major banks announced on the 31st the mortgage interest rates they will apply to new loans in September. For floating-rate loans, which most borrowers choose, Mitsubishi UFJ Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation raised their rates by 0.25% from the previous month, bringing their most favorable rates to 1.195% and 1.525%, respectively. The other three banks kept their rates unchanged. This reflects the increase in the benchmark short-term prime rate following the Bank of Japan's additional rate hike in June. For fixed-rate loans, all five banks raised their most favorable rates for 10-year fixed mortgages: Mitsubishi UFJ Bank increased by 0.04% to 3.63%, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation by 0.05% to 3.70%, Mizuho Bank by 0.1% to 3.45%, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank by 0.09% to 4.195%, and Resona Bank by 0.16% to 3.955%.

Mizuho Financial Group reported a 39.1% year-on-year increase in first-quarter net income to 170.1 billion yen, with core operating profit surging 81.9% to 575.8 billion yen, prompting the company to raise its full-year guidance. The bank achieved a record-high ROE of 12.5% and an expense ratio of 47.7%, below its 50% target, while loan balances grew 3.3% year-on-year. The securities and investment banking segment performed robustly, particularly in M&A and equity underwriting, aided by the Greenhill acquisition. The company maintained its plan to buy back up to 100 billion yen of its own shares, with 15 billion yen already executed, and its CET1 ratio remained strong at 12.5%. Management flagged ongoing geopolitical risks, particularly in the Middle East and the Taiwan Strait, and potential volatility in Japanese government bond yields as key uncertainties.

Japan's top financial regulators are pushing for the creation of a blockchain-based settlement infrastructure for stocks and government bonds. The Financial Services Agency (FSA), the Ministry of Finance, and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) will collaborate with local financial institutions starting this summer to develop a plan, which is expected to be completed by early 2027 and could be fully operational in the early 2030s. The main goal is to accelerate settlement from two days to real-time by tokenizing the current account deposits that banks hold at the BOJ on a blockchain. On the same day, about 40 regional and online banks announced a proof-of-concept project for interbank transfers using tokenized deposits, which will begin within this month. This move builds on the July amendment to the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA), which classified about 105 cryptocurrencies as financial instruments and set an effective tax rate of approximately 20% on crypto, as well as the establishment of a dedicated crypto and stablecoin division at the FSA and a pilot project by three major banks: Mizuho Bank, MUFG, and SMBC.

United Launch Alliance plans to raise approximately $500 million through a private bond placement to refinance existing debt. The rocket joint venture, owned by Boeing and Lockheed Martin, provides launch services for the US military and commercial customers including Amazon. US Bancorp, Mizuho Financial Group, and Wells Fargo are reportedly arranging the transaction. The bonds will be structured as a true private placement, sold directly to institutional investors rather than registered in public markets.

The combined net profit of five major Japanese banking groups in the April–June 2026 quarter rose 42.3% year-on-year to 1.9564 trillion yen. The Bank of Japan's rate hikes improved lending margins, while rising stock prices boosted fee income from investment trust sales and other sources. By bank, net profit rose 48.2% at Mitsubishi UFJ, 33.0% at Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, 45.5% at Mizuho Financial Group, 56.6% at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group, and 14.2% at Resona Holdings. All except Resona posted record April–June profits. For the full year ending March 2027, Mizuho and Resona raised their forecasts following the additional rate hike in June, while the other three banks kept theirs unchanged.

Mizuho pushed back on concerns that Chinese memory maker CXMT will flood the DRAM market and crush pricing, telling investors the fear is overblown. TMT sector specialist Jordan Klein said the firm's Japan team estimated CXMT's DRAM bit supply growth will rise only 13% year over year in 2027, below the broader industry's 21%, leaving the company at roughly 8% of global share. That would put CXMT's 2026-2028 compound annual growth rate at 24%, in line with the overall DRAM industry, which Mizuho said points to no reckless supply expansion to try and take share with aggressive pricing. The firm cited constraints including Applied Materials and Lam Research suspending tool servicing on CXMT's existing equipment in March 2026, aging equipment due for a refresh, yield pressure from node transitions during 2027, and a lack of EUV lithography tools as a major constraint. Klein added that the Chinese government wants CXMT to allocate much more capacity toward high-bandwidth memory rather than conventional DRAM, and the company lags big time in HBM and is not selling to non-China hyperscalers, further limiting its impact on global pricing dynamics.

Mizuho Financial Group announced it will expand its share buyback program. The previous limit of 25 million shares and 100 billion yen has been raised to 35 million shares and 200 billion yen, with the repurchase period running from May 18, 2026, to September 30, 2026. If the maximum number of shares is acquired, the ratio to total outstanding shares excluding treasury stock will be 1.4 percent. The company also announced plans to cancel all repurchased shares on October 23, 2026.

Mizuho Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank will raise yen time deposit rates from August 3. Mizuho Bank will increase the one-year rate by 0.1 percentage point to 0.5 percent, and the five-year rate by 0.125 percentage point to 0.825 percent, with hikes ranging from 0.1 to 0.175 percentage point depending on the term. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank will raise the one-year rate by 0.1 percentage point to 0.525 percent, with increases of 0.1 to 0.3 percentage point depending on the term. Other major banks are expected to follow suit soon.

According to disclosures made on July 30, Nippon Steel Solutions raised its first-half net profit forecast by 6 percent, adding to its record-high profit outlook, and also increased its full-year forecast. Japan Tobacco raised its current-term net profit forecast by 13 percent, adding to its record-high profit outlook, and increased its dividend by 30 yen. Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan Holdings swung to a first-half net profit and announced a share buyback of up to 14 million shares, representing 8.6 percent of outstanding shares excluding treasury stock, with a maximum value of 400 billion yen. Elsewhere, Sekisui Jushi raised its current-term net profit forecast by 23 percent, increased its dividend by 18 yen, and expanded its share buyback amount from 2.7 billion yen to 3 billion yen. Mizuho Financial Group raised its current-term net profit forecast by 8 percent, adding to its record-high profit outlook, and expanded its share buyback program from the current 25 million shares and 100 billion yen to 35 million shares and 200 billion yen. On the other hand, negative factors also emerged, such as Nihon M&A Center Holdings reporting an 11 percent decline in ordinary profit for the April-June quarter, Kagome lowering its current-term net profit forecast by 22 percent, and Osaka Steel revising its first-half ordinary profit forecast to a loss and maintaining a previously undecided first-half dividend at zero.

Mizuho Financial Group reported first-quarter GAAP earnings per share of ¥173.53 and revenue of ¥2520.86 billion, an 18.3% increase year-over-year. The company also revised its full-year outlook. The results were disclosed in a press release on the company's investor relations website.

Mizuho Financial Group on the 30th revised upward its consolidated net profit forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2027 to 1.4 trillion yen, from the previous 1.3 trillion yen. Consolidated net profit for the April–June quarter of 2026 rose 45.5 percent year-on-year to 422.9 billion yen. According to the consensus estimate of 12 analysts compiled by IBES, the average forecast for full-year consolidated net profit for the fiscal year ending March 2027 is 1.387 trillion yen.

Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Mizuho Bank, Resona Bank, and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank began offering preferential interest rates on housing loans, renovation loans, and unsecured loans for victims of the earthquake that struck Kumamoto Prefecture on the 29th. Rates will be reduced upon submission of a disaster victim certificate, and affected businesses will also receive low-interest financing. The Kyushu Local Finance Bureau and the Bank of Japan's Kumamoto Branch have requested that financial institutions allow withdrawals based on identity verification even if passbooks or seals have been lost, and each bank plans to respond flexibly. The Life Insurance Association of Japan and the General Insurance Association of Japan announced that premium payment grace periods will be extended by up to six months, and insurance claim procedures will be simplified.

Mizuho Financial Group has launched UPSIDER BANK by MIZUHO, a comprehensive financial service for mid-sized and small businesses that leverages AI. The service features same-day account opening at the earliest, a flat 100 yen fee for transfers to other banks, and AI-based credit assessment enabling corporate card credit lines of up to 1 billion yen. It also offers operational efficiency improvements and specialist matching. Mizuho FG President Masahiro Kihara positioned supporting the growth of mid-sized and small enterprises as the group's mission and expressed confidence in the partnership with startup UPSIDER. The group targets cumulative online loan executions of 500 billion yen and cumulative account acquisitions of 100,000 by fiscal 2030. Mega banks have seen repeated failures in lending to mid-sized and small businesses, and attention is focused on whether AI technology can rewrite that history.

Nvidia is widening its reach across Japan's largest industries. During a visit to Tokyo, CEO Jensen Huang announced partnerships covering robotics, health care, banking, manufacturing, automobiles, quantum computing and gaming. Japanese companies including FANUC, Sony, Hitachi, Kubota and SoftBank plan to work with Nvidia on physical AI models for robots and industrial systems. In health care, several drugmakers are using Nvidia's BioNeMo platform for drug discovery, while Canon and Fujifilm introduced medical imaging systems built with Nvidia technology. Toyota is expanding its work with Nvidia on driver-assistance software, factory simulations and traffic systems, Mizuho and Sumitomo Mitsui are building AI infrastructure for banking, and RIKEN is preparing Blackwell-powered supercomputers for scientific and quantum research.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unveiled a broad slate of AI products, partnerships, and customer deployments at the company's Japan AI event in Tokyo on July 15. The announcements spanned physical AI, healthcare, financial services, quantum computing, automotive, manufacturing, and gaming, highlighting Nvidia's push to position its technologies at the forefront of Japan's next-generation AI infrastructure. In physical AI and robotics, Nvidia launched Cosmos 3 Edge for on-device vision reasoning, and companies including FANUC, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Kubota, NEC, SoftBank, Sony Group, and Yaskawa Electric plan to join the Nvidia Cosmos Coalition to develop open physical AI models. In healthcare, Astellas Pharma, Eisai, Daiichi Sankyo, Ono Pharmaceutical, and Takeda Pharmaceutical are deploying Nvidia BioNeMo for AI-powered drug discovery, while Canon and Fujifilm introduced Nvidia-powered next-generation CT systems, and Kawasaki Heavy Industries is advancing AI-enabled surgical and hospital robots. In financial services, Mizuho Financial plans Japan's largest on-premises AI factory for banking, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial has deployed an AI factory through Japan Research Institute, and Rakuten Bank is developing AI transaction foundation models using Nvidia Agent Toolkit. Huang emphasized that the next wave of AI will be physical AI—robots, factories, vehicles, and industrial systems that can perceive, reason, and act in the real world—and said Japan's leadership in robotics, manufacturing, and precision engineering positions it to play a leading role in this transition.

Realty Income has closed on the recast and expansion of its multicurrency unsecured revolving credit facilities to $5.5 billion, up from the prior $4.0 billion capacity, and also expanded its global commercial paper programs to a combined $5.5 billion, up from $3.0 billion. The revolving credit facilities are split into two $2.75 billion tranches maturing in April 2029 and July 2030, with an accordion feature allowing an increase to $6.5 billion. The company's current credit ratings provide for a borrowing rate of 67.5 basis points over SOFR and a facility fee of 12.5 basis points, resulting in all-in drawn pricing of 80 basis points over SOFR, a reduction of 5 basis points from the prior facilities. The commercial paper programs consist of a $2.75 billion U.S. program and a $2.75 billion European program, with the revolving credit facilities serving as a liquidity backstop. A total of 26 lenders are participating, with Wells Fargo as administrative agent and Wells Fargo Securities, JPMorgan Chase, BofA Securities, Mizuho, and TD Bank as joint bookrunners.

The consensus forecast for Mizuho Financial Group's ordinary profit for the March 2027 fiscal year rose 1.5% from the previous week's 1.914317 trillion yen to 1.942865 trillion yen. Compared to the prior-year result, the forecast was revised upward from a 21.7% increase to a 23.5% increase. The rating consensus remains unchanged at 4.7.

SoftBank Group has reopened talks with a consortium of lenders for a $10 billion loan backed by its stake in OpenAI, after earlier attempts stalled over concerns about valuing private companies. To make lenders more comfortable, SoftBank is offering to guarantee repayment, giving banks recourse if the OpenAI shares pledged as collateral lose value. The lending consortium is expected to include Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Mizuho Financial Group. The financing, known as a margin loan, is part of SoftBank's efforts to fund its artificial intelligence investment strategy, which has included more than $60 billion in commitments to OpenAI and related infrastructure projects.

Mizuho Bank and Rakuten Bank have entered into a strategic capital and business alliance to create a new credit model combining megabank corporate expertise with digital bank retail reach. As part of the capital alliance, Mizuho Bank will acquire 23,559,673 Class A shares of Rakuten Bank, which will be converted into common shares during a broader reorganization of Rakuten's FinTech business. The partnership aims to optimize domestic fund circulation by connecting Mizuho's corporate clients' financing needs with Rakuten Bank's retail deposit base, and includes plans for Rakuten Bank to acquire corporate loans originated by Mizuho. The banks will also collaborate on working capital for small businesses, housing loan efficiency, and backup cash disbursement protocols for Rakuten Bank during crises.