Mizuho’s next president, Kihara, is the key man who holds the armpit, what is the “four people” of Heisei? | Diamond Premium News

Mizuho Financial Group has decided to promote Masahiro Kihara as Executive Officer to succeed Tatsufumi Sakai, and to assign Seiji Imai as Vice President to succeed Yasuhiro Sato, who will retire in June this year. Along with this, the focus of Mizuho personnel has shifted to the whereabouts of human resources who will set aside the leaders. Who are the four members of the Heisei Irikigumi who can be the key men of the new system? (Diamond editorial department Mieko Arai, Takahiro Tagami)

Mizuho solidifies the personnel affairs of the next president
After all, the president’s baton is in the hands of those from the Industrial Bank of Japan.

Mizuho Financial Group (FG), which has suffered nine system failures last year and is in turmoil, has answered the re-priority issue of leaders. In addition to promoting Masahiro Kihara as the successor to President Tatsufumi Sakai, who announced his resignation in November last year, he has decided to assign Vice President Seiji Imai to replace Chairman Yasuhiro Sato, who will retire in June this year.

A resolution will be made by the Board of Directors on January 17, when a business improvement plan that includes measures to prevent the recurrence of system failures will be submitted to the Financial Services Agency. Mr. Kihara joined the former Industrial Bank of Japan in 1989 (Heisei 1), and if officially decided, he will be the first top bank in Heisei of 3 Mega Bank.

Mr. Kihara is a person who has long walked the management field of risk management, planning, finance, etc. at banks, securities, and FG. When he was young, he also studied abroad at a law school in the United States. Currently, he is the head of the Global Products Unit, which handles M & A (merger / acquisition of companies) and domestic and overseas settlement operations. By the way, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiji Kihara, who supports the Kishida Cabinet, is his younger brother.

However, although he has a wide range of experience, he is not very familiar with the sales floor. The “first condition” required of Mizuho’s next top should have been “on-site emphasis”.

“Lack of sensitivity to customer influence, neglecting the actual situation at the sales floor” “Do not say what you should say, only what you are told”. In November of last year, following a series of system failures, the FSA issued a business improvement order to Mizuho, ​​which was studded with such humiliating words.

That is why the next top executives set the foundation of retail (individual / small and medium-sized enterprises) business in order to clarify the emphasis on the field, and people from the former Fuji Bank and the former Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank who were savvy in the field were regarded as promising.

However, if you open the lid, the president will be Mr. Kihara from the former Industrial Bank of Japan. “In the end, it seems that there was no decisive factor for candidates other than Mr. Kihara.” There are some harsh voices from inside Mizuho, ​​but there seems to be a good reason for Mr. Kihara’s appointment.

On the next page, in addition to the background of the appointment of Mr. Kihara, we will discuss the human resources candidates who will solidify the side of the Kihara system, which is the “next focus” of Mizuho personnel. Who are the four members of the Heisei Irikou group who are likely to become Mizuho’s key men in the future?