Mizuho, Japan’s third largest lender, is amping its India game. The megabank, which has close $2 trillion in assets, recently made an investment of up to $ 144.43 million for a 15% equity stake in credit card issuer Credit Saison’s Indian subsidiary, Kisetsu Saison Finance (India).
Mizuho is making this move to expand its presence in Asia’s rapidly developing financial markets, with the aim of meeting the rapidly growing needs for digital financial services in India.
The lender is now looking at large-ticket transactions in India, Yasuhiro Kubota, Asia Pacific Co-CEO of Mizuho Bank, told ET in an interview. Kubota said that the bank is considering expanding its lending capabilities in the country. “You want to acquire a company and are looking for a billion-dollar cheque, I can say with great confidence that we can do it,” he told ET.
Nearly 55% of Mizuho’s revenue comes from businesses outside Japan. In Asia, the bank deals in 14 countries, China in the north, India in the west and Australia in the south.
Private banks have been focusing on India’s wealth market or looking to expand further. LGT launched wealth management services onshore through a local entity that employs more than 200 staff and has a presence in 14 cities, including Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, and Bengaluru.
Julius Baer has been present in India since 2015 as part of the wider acquisition of Merrill Lynch’s international wealth management business. Two years ago, it rolled out a five-year transformation strategy that aims to double the number of relationship managers and clients, triple assets under management and extend reach to new cities.