Mizuho Securities

The current Mizuho Securities is established by a merger between Shinko Securities and the former Mizuho Securities. The former Shinko Securities (a former equity-method affiliate of Mizuho Financial Group) and the former Mizuho Securities (a former consolidated subsidiary of Mizuho Financial Group) merged on 7 May 2009 after it was postponed due to the 2008 financial crisis.^[1] The surviving entity was the former Shinko Securities, which changed its name to Mizuho Securities upon the merger. After the merger, Mizuho Financial Group holds 59.51% equity ownership of the new Mizuho Securities.^[2] In 2004, the Polaris Capital Group was divested, focusing on private equity investment.^[3] Mizuho Securities is involved in bond and stock trading, debt and equity financing, and advisory services for structured finance; its clients include financial institutions, public corporations, and institutional investors or firms.^[4] It also issues buy and sell ratings for publicly traded stocks.^[5] During the early 2000s, it was considered to be one of the "big four" firms that controlled a large portion of Japanese trading.^[6] In December 2005, an employee at Mizuho Securities placed an erroneous sell order of J-COM Co., Ltd. shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange,^[7] resulting in a loss of approximately ¥40.7 billion.^[8]

Mizuho Securities then brought a case for its damages against the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) as they could not cancel the order due to a fault in the TSE's computer system.^[9] The president of TSE resigned in 2005.^[10] Mizuho was awarded approximately ¥10.7 billion.^[7] Mizuho Securities operates several subsidiaries, including Mizuho Securities USA, where the CEO is Gerald Rizzieri.^[11][12]