A pedestrian passes by the Mizuho Financial Group corporate logo displayed outside Mizuho Bank’s main branch in Tokyo. Photo provided by: Kiyoshi Ota / EPA
February 27 (Asia Today) — Mizuho Financial Group has announced that it will accelerate the introduction of artificial intelligence across its businesses and reduce the number of clerical jobs by up to 5,000 over the next 10 years in an effort to improve profitability.
Japan’s megabank plans to reduce its roughly 15,000 administrative staff nationwide by one-third through automation, organizational rationalization, and natural attrition.
Under this plan, an AI system will be introduced into Mizuho Bank’s core departments, which will be responsible for things such as opening accounts, verifying documents during transfers, and registering customer data. The bank aims to significantly reduce manual tasks such as document review and data entry.
The group’s executive said the use of AI could eliminate “much of the red tape” as automated systems take over the scanning, analysis and verification of customer applications.
The AI platform will be designed to verify document accuracy, ensure consistency of customer information, and check compliance with regulations and company rules. This is a process that previously required multiple staff members.
The bank said it would avoid direct job cuts and instead redeploy affected employees to revenue-generating areas such as branch sales, corporate customer analytics and operational support. The group also plans to expand reskilling programs to help workers transition into new roles. Retrenchments will rely on hiring freezes, retirements and voluntary redundancies.
Mizuho has already cut approximately 10,000 administrative jobs over the past 10 years through digitalization and the expansion of online services. The latest plans signal a further shift away from back-office-centric operations to a leaner, AI-driven structure.
As part of the organizational changes scheduled for April, the group will change the name of the ‘Management Group’ to the ‘Process Design Group’ to reflect increased efficiency and digital process management.
The bank plans to invest up to 100 billion yen ($670 million) over the three years from 2026 to 2028 to develop and introduce AI systems. In addition to back-office automation, the investment will also support the development of an AI assistant for asset management. These tools are expected to analyze customers’ assets, risk profiles and cash flows and generate personalized investment and money management recommendations for individual and corporate clients.
Among Japan’s major megabanks, Mizuho Bank is seen to be the most proactive in restructuring its administrative staff with a focus on AI. Industry players say the move could accelerate similar changes across the country’s financial sector.
— Asia Today reported. Translation by UPI
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Korea original report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260227010008338
