Japan's Mizuho Bank Suffers Glitch In Branches Nationwide

Mizuho Financial Group's main banking unit suffered a system glitch that left branches nationwide unable to process transactions on Friday, the latest in a series of embarrassing system errors at Japan's No. 3 lender, Makiko Yamazaki, and Yuki Nitta reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: A Mizuho Bank branch in Kyodo

The glitch in Mizuho's core "Minori" banking system prevented in-person transactions on Friday morning, with service at about 460 branches mostly restored hours later. Mizuho shares closed down 1%, in line with the benchmark index.

The outage is the latest blow to the reputation of Mizuho, which suffered a series of breakdowns between February and March this year despite a $3.6 billion overhaul of its systems in 2019. That revamp followed two large-scale breakdowns in 2002 and 2011.

The fresh outage piles further pressure on group CEO Tatsufumi Sakai and banking unit head Koji Fujiwara, who both took temporary pay cuts following the earlier tech trouble. "As this is the fifth glitch in a short period of time, we take this extremely seriously," Sakai told a press briefing.

Asked about his responsibility, Sakai said he wants to fulfill his responsibility by beefing up prevention measures which the bank has been pursuing since the previous glitches.

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