Will "Mizuho" change?

Ask President Kihara April 25, 18:00

Mizuho Financial Group has suffered a series of system failures since February last year.

The Financial Services Agency issued an order to improve operations, and the top management was replaced all at once.

Are reforms progressing to restore trust?

I asked President Masahiro Kihara, the group leader.

(Keiichiro Furuichi, Reporter, Ministry of Economic Affairs)

Mega Bank's first "Heisei Iriyuki" president

Masahiro Kihara, president of Mizuho Financial Group, who took office in February this year, is 56 years old.

He became the president of Mega Bank as the first "Heisei Irikigumi" and bears the heavy responsibility of recovering the lost trust.

President Kihara, who is currently visiting various departments within the group, emphasized that the company should be transformed into an organization where the opinions of the field can be utilized.

President Kihara

"There are employees who really want to change Mizuho (when they visit the site). Employees can express their awareness, thoughts, and constructive opinions, and discuss them together to create new ones. I can go. I can take on challenges without fear of failure. I want to create that kind of culture. "

Unusual criticism “Don't say what you should say”

President Kihara pointed out that the reason why the corporate culture is drastically changed is that the Financial Services Agency says, "I don't say what I should say, I only say what I was told" as the background of the constant system failure. Sometimes.

It is a strict expression that can be said to be unusual for a document issued by the government office.

There were eight system failures in 2021 that were subject to the business improvement order.

Of these, 80% of ATMs nationwide became unavailable due to the failure in February, and more than 5,200 troubles occurred in which cards and passbooks could not be taken out.

In fact, three years before that, in 2018, more than 1800 similar cases were confirmed, but the company continued to specify the system without sufficient verification.

At that time, the committee that investigated the cause said, "The continuation of the specifications and the delay in the change caused serious damage to the customer." "The entire organization lacks imagination and sensitivity." Pointed out.

In addition, it became clear that important information was not transmitted to the management team, such as the fact that executives learned about the system failure on the net news more than 3 hours after the occurrence, which is a serious problem in the operation of the organization.

A huge organization with more than 50,000 employees in the entire group.

In the midst of the merger of the three banks, the culture of "do not say anything above" and "do not get the opinions of the field" has become stronger.

President Kihara

: "I think employees have a lot of things to say and opinions. Rather, it's a question of whether management and managers have taken those opinions and put them to good use in their daily business operations and management strategies. I think it wasn't done there after all. "

Management that was "disregarding the site"

In the business improvement order, it was pointed out that the management's disregard for the site of the system also led to obstacles.

Mizuho has invested a total of 450 billion yen to develop a new system that supports ATMs and online banking, and has been operating it since 2019.

However, after starting operation, the number of personnel in charge was reduced by 60%.

Maintenance and maintenance costs have also been reduced.

After that, system failures became frequent.

President Kihara thinks that this point was also insufficiently addressed.

President Kihara

"There is a problem of whether we have taken necessary measures after facing the actual situation at the site. Regarding the number of maintenance personnel, we must clearly visualize what we had to do in the first place, and then the necessary personnel. Think about something. I think he wasn't polite enough. "

Can you keep it alive?

Voice of the field

How can we change the atmosphere of such a company?

The conclusion made by President Kihara was as simple as going around the site and gathering opinions on his own.

President Kihara's

inscription is "Culture eats strategy for breakfast,"

also known as the father of management, and is the words of Peter Drucker, who wrote numerous books related to management.

President Kihara exchanges opinions with the field by visiting branches and system departments and holding online meetings at least once a week.

On April 18, he visited the Omiya branch of Saitama City.

Last year, it is a store that is focusing on improving efficiency by consolidating the corporate sales of five nearby stores.

"I would like to know the system support to further improve the efficiency of operations at the sales floor."

"I feel that it is still necessary to simplify the office work in order to enhance customer support."

At the discussion meeting, on-site employees gave various opinions on improving work efficiency.

President Kihara replied, "It is important to make time to respond to customers, and for that purpose it is important to streamline and change operations. If there is something that can be improved, I would like you to send more and more." He appealed that he would like to actively come up with ideas from the field.

In order to change the company, it is most important to bring out the independent actions of each employee.

President Kihara thinks so.

President Kihara

: "If you have a desire to change from the bottom up, you should do it. It is the most important task to raise the motivation of employees and firmly restore trust. I think. We have to create a shape that customers can trade with Mizuho with peace of mind. "

Mizuho rewinding

While there is an urgent need to restore trust, the environment surrounding companies is undergoing drastic changes, such as DX = digital transformation and decarbonization that transform operations with digital technology, and the situation in Ukraine where uncertainty is increasing.

President Kihara wants to take advantage of the Group's strengths and embark on new businesses.

President Kihara

"Mizuho's strengths are clearly connected horizontally. It connects the functions of banks, trusts, securities, research, and leasing in all directions. What should we do with needs and personnel systems in order to further demonstrate our strengths? Think about it. Speaking of decarbonization, Research has 130 environmental consultants who provide non-financial services, which will eventually emerge as finance downstream. The most important thing is to connect all the functions of the group to find the optimum solution. We will brush up each function as much as necessary. "

"Mizuho" has repeatedly experienced large-scale system failures in the past.

Can it really change this time?

As the business environment of financial institutions and client companies has changed significantly, Mizuho does not have much time to restore trust.

The skill of President Kihara will be questioned, including the sense of speed of reform.

Keiichiro Furuichi ,

Reporter of the Ministry of Economic Affairs Joined the Department of Finance in

2014 After working at the Niigata Bureau,

was in charge of finance of the Ministry of

Economic Affairs .