With the objective of implementing group–wide initiatives for expanding our cashless payments business, Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (President & CEO: Tatsufumi Sakai) and Mizuho Bank, Ltd. (Mizuho Bank; President & CEO: Koji Fujiwara) will partner with Orient Corporation(Orico; President & CEO: Masaaki Kono) and UC Card Co.,Ltd. (UC Card; President and CEO: Nobuaki Kitajima) on efforts to strengthen our credit card business and respond to the ongoing spread of new payment services.
1.Strengthening our credit card business
(1)Enhancing our Mizuho Mileage Club Card offerings
- Recently we concluded a basic agreement with Credit Saison Co.,Ltd. (Credit Saison) regarding the termination of our Comprehensive Strategic Business Alliance Agreement. However, we will maintain our beneficial partnership with Credit Saison, and there will be no change to our service offerings for the Mizuho Mileage Club Card (MMC Card), which is popular with a broad range of customers.
(Customers can continue to use any services they are enrolled in without taking any additional steps.) - In order to respond to customers' diverse needs, we will further expand our offerings from the MMC Card lineup from Orico/UC Card, introduce a MMC Card function within the Smart phone app, and take other steps to enhance the convenience and appeal of our products and provide services with high added–value.
(2)Consolidation of credit–card issuing business, credit–card acquiring business, and processing business
By consolidating the credit–card issuing business and credit–card acquiring business conducted by Orico/UC Card within the group, we will be able to enhance synergy and provide more effective and high value–added services.
- The roll–out of a shared IT system used by Orico/UC Card has put in place infrastructure foundations which will enable a flexible approach to cashless payments business. Utilizing this infrastructure foundation, we will also seek to expand our merchant services and leverage our card processing business to enhance the cashless payments environment.
2.Responding to the ongoing spread of new payment services
We will not only work to strengthen our credit card business, but also actively seek to expand our cashless payments business through new payment services such as those enabling users to pay via smartphone or QR code.
- On March, 2019 Mizuho Bank will begin offering a new payment service called J–Coin Pay.
- In partnership with UC Card, we will aim to expand the member store network accepting J–Coin Pay.