Japanese

Provisional Translation

Q.

Yesterday, Mizuho Bank had its eighth system failure and caused inconvenience for its customers despite the business improvement order issued by the Financial Services Agency (FSA) just recently. What do you think and could you explain how the FSA will respond to the latest system failure?

A.

The first system failure was in February, so the frequency is once a month or so. The bank has had system failures repeatedly, and the latest one is said to have occurred at a point different from those in the past cases. Therefore, the FSA is continuing inspections both in terms of the bank's system and governance, and issued a business improvement order against Mizuho Bank and Mizuho Financial Group on September 22, instructing the bank to secure the system to properly manage system reforms. I heard that the latest system failure was not caused by a system renewal or update, but anyhow, the bank has had system failures repeatedly and caused inconvenience and trouble for its customers due to the suspension of money transfer services or other services. Each time, the bank said that it would respond to its customers meticulously and would not repeat system failures, but has continuously had system failures. We have to make sure of the bank’s countermeasures. When we look back at the time when the bank first introduced its new system, the bank said that it would integrate the three different systems of the three banks into one upon their merger. At that time, I was not the Finance Minister, but I wondered whether there was really such an excellent machine in Japan. As I feared, troubles have been continuing up until today, but I am not sure whether that is the cause of the latest system failure. The bank took actions as an anti-money laundering measure, then the system fails. We are bewildered by the fact that the system troubles had different causes each time. However, the most important thing is to ensure services for customers stably. If the bank's system is considered to be unreliable or if people think that Mizuho Bank is risky as it often causes system failures, this may lead to customer defection. Therefore, even though the bank must have been making the utmost efforts as it is an issue of critical importance, it seems to have failed to deal with machine troubles so far. Further efforts must be required, I think.