Mizuho is proud to be a founding signatory to the Women in Finance Charter. The Charter represents a genuine commitment by HM Treasury and signatory firms to work together to build a more balanced and fair industry that reflects the government's aspiration to see gender balance at all levels across financial services firms.
What is the Women in Finance Charter (WIFC)?
Launched by HM Treasury in March 2016, the Women in Finance Charter aims to improve gender balance in senior management across the financial services sector. Today, the Charter has over 400 signatories, collectively representing more than 1.3 million employees.
The Charter is built around four key principles:
- Appointing a senior executive team member accountable for gender diversity and inclusion.
- Setting internal targets to improve gender diversity in senior management.
- Publishing annual progress against these targets on a dedicated page of the company’s website.
- Committing to link senior executive pay to the delivery of these gender diversity targets.
Mizuho’s Commitment as a Founding Signatory
We are proud to be one of the founding signatories of the Charter. As of August 2025, female representation in senior management roles at Mizuho stood at 20.42%.
We remain fully committed to driving sustainable, positive change. To that end, we have set an aspirational target of achieving 33% female representation in senior management by September 2030.
Mizuho: Key Activities Driving Progress:
Leadership Accountability
At the start of the financial year, Mizuho introduced a “Performance Against Values” goal for all Heads of Business, weighted at 30% of their overall year-end performance. Key metrics include:
- Gender-diverse interview panels
- Gender-balanced candidate slates
- Progress against Women in Finance Charter targets
This reinforces leadership accountability and embeds DEI into performance management.
Inclusive Talent Acquisition
Talent acquisition plays a critical role in advancing gender diversity. Our approach includes:
- Inclusive hiring practices and partnerships with diversity-focused organisations
- Data-driven recruitment dashboards tracking gender representation across hiring stages and interview panels
- Recruitment and Interviewer Skills Training, including unconscious bias awareness and skills-based interviewing
- Annual internship and graduate programmes to build gender balance in our future talent pipeline
These efforts ensure transparency, accountability, and informed decision-making across all business areas.
Strategic Partnerships
We continue to strengthen relationships with recruitment agencies and executive search firms to ensure alignment with our diversity and inclusion goals. New partnerships, such as with The Return Hub, help us access broader talent pools and promote inclusive hiring for leadership and specialist roles.
Gender Diversity Network Business Series
Our Gender Diversity Network hosts a series of business talks featuring prominent female thought leaders. These sessions promote gender equality, showcase role models, foster networking opportunities, and empower diverse talent across Mizuho and beyond.
Parental Coaching and Support
We are committed to fostering an inclusive and equitable workplace. Recognising the challenges of balancing work and family life, we offer a parental coaching programme to support employees during key life transitions, such as parental leave and returning to work.
This is complemented by a broader support framework that includes:
- Flexible working arrangements
- Access to childcare resources
- Active employee networks
These initiatives aim to remove barriers that contribute to a lack of gender diversity and ensure all employees can thrive, regardless of caregiving responsibilities.
Mizuho remains committed to the Women in Finance Charter and to fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace. Through targeted initiatives, leadership accountability, and strategic partnerships, we continue to take meaningful action to improve gender representation and create lasting change.