Mizuho to book $6b restructuring costs in digital pivot

The Japanese megabank is scaling down its physical retail network.

Reuters reports that Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group has slashed its full-year profit outlook by as much as 86% as it expects to book $6b (JPY680b) in restructuring costs at its bank, brokerage unit and overhaul of its securities business.

Also read: Mizuho taps on Japan's wealthy elderly to boost dismal lending

Mizuho also said that it would book about $4.50b (JPY500b) of impairment losses on fixed assets, including costs from closing retail branches at home and software-related expenses and book another $1.62b (JPY180b) of losses to restructure its securities portfolio of foreign bonds.

“Mizuho Financial Group’s profit warning highlights the key risks facing Japanese banks,” Tetsuya Yamamoto of ratings agency Moody’s told Reuters.

Also read: Japan's megabanks embrace robots to cut costs

Banks in Japan have been trimming down underperforming branches in an attempt to cut costs as they grapple with declining gains from their lending businesses amidst the rapidly ageing population and ultra-low interest rate environment engineered

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