Mizuho faces repercussions from Japan’s Finance Ministry; Nikkei.

According to the Nikkei business daily, Japan’s finance ministry is planning to take punitive action against Mizuho Financial Group’s banking arm for failing to comply with the country’s foreign exchange law.

According to the Nikkei, Japan’s third-largest lender failed to comply with anti-money laundering procedures required by the foreign exchange act when transacting overseas remittances on September 30.

While no evidence of illegal money remittances was found, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) decided on the corrective action because Mizuho is one of Japan’s largest banks, with responsibility for payment systems, according to the Nikkei.

In response to a report by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global financial crimes watchdog, the finance ministry announced a three-year action plan in August, including tighter supervision of financial institutions.

According to two sources familiar with the situation, the Sept. 30 incident at Mizuho has prompted a response from Japan’s banking regulator, which is set to issue a reprimand to the financial group on Friday for a series of system glitches.

Mizuho group CEO Tatsufumi Sakai and the head of the firm’s main banking unit intend to resign to take responsibility for the problems, one of the sources said.

Story by : Norvisi Mawunyegah