Mizuho Bank vows to cut jobs

Mizuho Bank vows to cut jobs

Agence France-Presse, Tokyo

Mega Japanese lender Mizuho Bank said Tuesday it will close at least 100 branches in four years and slash jobs as it struggles to boost business and shake off troublesome bad loans.

"We will start with about 560 branches. Our management plan states that we aim to reduce at least 100 branches," said a spokesman for Mizuho Holdings Inc., holding company for Mizuho Bank and Mizuho Corporate Bank.

Mizuho Bank will be formed in April after consolidating the retail operations at Industrial Bank of Japan Ltd., Fuji Bank Ltd. and Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank Ltd. -- the three lenders which merged in 2000 to form the giant holding company.

The Mizuho group would maintain a plan to cut 10,000 jobs by 2006, reducing its overall workforce to 25,000, the spokesman said. As of September 2001, it employed 30,192 people.

In an interview with Japanese media, Mizuho Bank's president- elect Tadashi Kudo promised his bank would issue loans with interest rates that would reflect the risks involved.

Japanese banks have been criticized for issuing low interest loans to financially weak companies, which contributed to the banking sector's massive bad loan crisis.

"The costs associated with a collapse are enormous," Kudo told the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper.

"The best way to minimize the occurrence of non-performing loans is to have lenders discuss ways to rebuild a company as soon as it gets into financial trouble. We will also strive to set interest rates to better reflect the risks involved," he told the financial daily.

Kudo said his bank would closely advise small and medium-sized companies to help them improve operations, Kyodo News Agency reported.

"We will become a bank that will be promptly consulted by customers and study rehabilitation programs together with them," he was quoted as saying.

"We will cudgel our brains to prevent loans (to them) from going bad."

Kudo also said his bank would use the government's loan-buying Resolution and Collection Corp. to reduce the level of bad debts on its balance sheets.

To reduce bad loans, "we will actively use Resolution and Collection Corp. and bulk sales in order to promptly improve the quality of our assets," Kudo told Kyodo.