Company Name : Mizuho Financial Group, Inc.

Representative : Yasuhiro Sato, President and CEO

Head office location : 1–5–5, Otemachi, Chiyoda–ku, Tokyo, Japan

Stock code : 8411 (First section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange)

Mizuho Announces New Medium–Term Business Plan: Progressive Development of “One MIZUHO” –The Path to a Financial Services Consulting Group

In February 2013, Mizuho Financial Group (hereinafter "Mizuho") introduced its previous medium–term business plan, the One MIZUHO New Frontier Plan–Stepping Up to the Next Challenge. Under this plan, Mizuho transitioned to a new group management structure by which group–wide business units took the lead in formulating and promoting business strategies and initiatives for Mizuho Bank, Mizuho Trust & Banking, Mizuho Securities and other corporate entities, under the guidance of the holding company, to deliver the right services to meet the needs of each customer.

Under the banner of "One MIZUHO," Mizuho has also implemented a number of initiatives to deliver appropriate and timely responses to customers' diverse financial needs, including positioning a customer–focused perspective as a cornerstone of the business plan, while advancing an integrated strategy of close collaboration between the banking, trust and securities functions, qualitatively transforming the profit structure and improving profitability. The group has also successfully enhanced its corporate governance by transitioning to the "company with three committees" system and by strengthening the functions of the holding company.

In light of the results of these initiatives and recent changes in the business environment, today Mizuho announced a new medium–term business plan for the next three–year period, entitled Progressive Development of “One MIZUHO” –The Path to a Financial Services Consulting Group.

In addition to an uncertain regulatory environment, financial institutions face a number of challenges affecting the business environment. These include approaching a turning point in the global economy marked by instability in the economic structure by which emerging markets were the drivers of growth and by prolonged stagnation in natural resource prices, as well as the appearance of game–changing factors such as the rapid development of financial innovations. The new medium–term business plan seeks to establish a new business model for the financial industry–which is an issue that Mizuho has been tackling in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis–in light of these business environment changes.

By further reinforcing the customer–focused perspective, and by fully deploying the consulting capabilities of the group's asset management and research & consulting functions, in addition to the banking, trust and securities functions, Mizuho aims to become an indispensable partner in the sustainable development of corporate customers–and in securing the future of individual customers–by delivering optimal solutions to address not only customers' apparent needs and the issues that they face, but also their latent needs and issues that even they may not have identified yet.

Furthermore, in response to the challenging business environment, Mizuho will seek to thoroughly reform existing operational processes and pursue operational excellence as part of a project to promote greater improvements and efficiency by proactively introducing new technologies and business models.

Under the new medium–term business plan, Mizuho will perfect the One MIZUHO Strategy by creating a new business model as a financial services consulting group based on the foundations of operational excellence and a customer–focused perspective.

To speed up the reinforcement of these two foundational elements, Mizuho's previous ten business units have been reorganized into five in–house companies and two units.

Please refer to the attached documents regarding the details of the plan.

By establishing a customer–focused business platform, Mizuho will form deeper relationships with our customers via our financial intermediary functions and our ability to take highly measured risks, and build the future of economies and communities as the most trusted financial partner in providing solutions for our customers. In the interest of building the new business model described herein, we have established the following objectives in the medium–term business plan.