Mizuho Financial Group’s top executive said the Japanese megabank is considering cities in Europe including Dublin, Luxembourg and Amsterdam as potential locations to base its London-based securities unit if it is impacted by a “heavy Brexit”. While many cities had approached the lender, nothing has been decided yet, chief executive Yasuhiro Sato said on Friday in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Davos, Switzerland. His bank has about 1,250 employees in London, which is home to its largest branch in Europe. “In our case the banking business is a branch network, so we don’t care about passporting,” said Sato (64). “But on the securities side we have a subsidiary so we have to take certain action if there is a heavy Brexit. ” He did not specify what a “heavy Brexit” might entail. Banks from HSBC Holdings to JPMorgan Chase have indicated their plans to reduce operations in the UK after prime minister Theresa May this week delivered her vision for leaving the EU single market. Lenders are concerned they will lose so-called passporting rights that allow them to sell services throughout the EU from London. Mizuho also has a banking unit in Amsterdam, which it renamed from Mizuho Bank Nederland to Mizuho Bank Europe on January 1st to reflect the growing number of countries where it does business in the region. Sato welcomed any move by incoming US president Donald Trump toward financial deregulation in that country, where Mizuho has been growing its operations “quite rapidly”. “Interpreting the new banking rules has been quite confusing,’’ said Sato. “If Trump is going to ease regulations, that’s good news for us.’’ – Bloomberg
Mizuho Financial Group is considering European cities including Dublin, Amsterdam and Luxembourg as potential locations in the event of a "heavy Yasuhiro Sato". CEO Brexit said many cities had approached the lender but nothing had been decided yet. Passporting is not an issue for the bank, Sato said, but added, "on the securities side we have a subsidiary so we have to take certain action if there is a heavy Yasuhiro Sato.". A number of lenders, including HSBC and JPMorgan Chase have indicated they will reduce their UK operations following Theresa May's announcement on leaving the single market.