At the end of September 2000 Mizuho Holdings Inc, the holding company for the newly formed Mizuho Financial Group, was launched on the Japanese stock exchange with total assets of Ґ134 trillion . Mizuho has been nicknamed the “Godzilla bank” and was created by the integration of Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank, Fuji Bank and the Industrial Bank of Japan.
Two of the partners, Fuji and Dai-ichi Kangyo, have factoring subsidiaries and it is likely that their respective operations, Fujigin Factors and Daiichikangin Factoring, will be merged as part of the general restructuring programme.
The separate factoring operations of the three partners are due to be integrated and operating as a single entity by April 2002. However, doubts are already being expressed as to whether the integration programme will proceed as planned.