Support for SMEs and regional revitalization
Support for small and medium–sized enterprises (SMEs)
By drawing on our consulting capabilities to provide proposals and solutions that address the issues SMEs face, we ensure that clients' perspectives are prioritized when providing support for business expansion, succession, reorganization, and other client needs. We also believe that proactively supporting SMEs is a key part of fulfilling our social responsibility as a financial institution.
In particular, by providing consulting and support for SMEs' growth strategies, we can introduce clients to potential M&A opportunities from the standpoint of business expansion and succession, and support the growth of innovative companies with exceptional technologies or ideas.
Furthermore, a specialized business reorganization section within our Head Office provides support for SMEs' business improvement and reorganization needs. In addition, our Head Office collaborates with frontline offices to provide consultations and support for clients through partnerships with external organizations, external specialists, and other financial institutions.
Regional revitalization initiatives
In Japan, as a result of the trend toward concentration of businesses and other economic activity solely in Tokyo, rural populations are expected to decline and regional economies are expected to shrink in the future. As a nation, Japan must look for ways to revitalize regional areas through a virtuous cycle in which jobs draw people back to local areas and population growth creates more jobs.
Utilizing our office network in Japan, we are striving to promote the revitalization of regional economies by providing our clients with funding, supporting the operations of local businesses, and collaborating with regional governments.
Case study: Regional revitalization initiative
Mizuho Bank has set up a Regional Revitalization Desk with the headquarters functions of planning and promoting regional industry revitalization, carbon neutrality, DX, and other initiatives to resolve issues facing local communities, providing regional revitalization support that draws on our strengths as a group with offices in all 47 prefectures in Japan.
We have also set in place a structure that enables knowledge and knowhow to be aggregated and utilized, including holding Regional Revitalization Summits as a space for online exchanges of views among our frontline offices nationwide. The Regional Revitalization Desk serves as a hub, coordinating with the relevant parties in relation to enquiries made to our offices by local companies and local authorities.
For example, we use our client network to introduce regions that want to increase their foreign visitor numbers to travel agents with knowhow on attracting foreign visitors and to cross-border e-commerce services that sell products overseas via the Internet. We also propose DX services such as digital community currency services.
We will continue to contribute to regional revitalization by sharing branch efforts across the group and engaging in cross-regional business matching, as well as working with group companies on business creation.
Case study: Initiatives for co-creation with local communities and startups
At Mizuho Bank, we are drawing on our strengths as a group with offices in all 47 prefectures of Japan to support regional industry revitalization. This involves co-creation with startups and local companies, assistance to companies seeing declining performance, and other efforts. The main organizational body driving our support is our Regional Revitalization Desk, which houses our headquarters functions for planning and promoting initiatives towards resolving issues faced by local communities.
Our initiatives facilitate open innovation that is inclusive of local communities. One example is our participation in and client base sharing with Leave a Nest's locally focused Tech Planter program for "deep tech"* companies. In September 2023, we co-sponsored the Tohoku Tech Planter, a platform set up to identify and cultivate deep tech companies from across the Tohoku region's six prefectures. By combining Mizuho Bank's understanding of local companies' needs, Mizuho Bank's network, and Leave a Nest's strengths in deep tech, we aim to foster the growth of not only startups but local companies in general.
We will continue to contribute to the growth of startups and other SMEs and the revitalization of regional economies.
* Technology that is based on scientific discoveries gained through research in specific fields of the natural sciences and that has the potential to positively impact society, if commercialized or implemented, by resolving pressing economic and societal issues of a national or global scale.
Finance facilitation and response to the Guidelines for Personal Guarantee Provided by Business Owners
Finance facilitation
Mizuho works to promote finance facilitation in accordance with group-wide fundamental policies. This includes ensuring that we respond appropriately to requests for new loans or loan condition adjustments, and provide tailored consulting.
Guidelines for Personal Guarantee Provided by Business Owners
We are committed to establishing and maintaining good relationships with our clients in line with the Guidelines for Personal Guarantee Provided by Business Owners established by the Japanese Bankers Association and the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as well as the associated special provisions that came into effect on April 1, 2020.
We provide the option for a joint guarantee with a termination clause and multiple other lending methods as alternatives to personal guarantee provided by business owners. Also, we have established a structure for cooperation between our frontline offices and Head Office to encourage the utilization of these methods.