Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. ("Mizuho"), one of Japan's leading global financial institutions, and LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group), today announced an agreement to collaborate in providing sustainability solutions to the bank's corporate clients.
The agreement will enable Mizuho to strengthen its offerings to clients by combining LSEG's expertise in innovative ESG and other sustainability solutions with Mizuho's extensive network and knowledge as a comprehensive financial group. Sustainability, including that related to climate change, the environment, governance and human rights, has become an increasingly important management issue for its clients.
In the first example of this collaboration, Mizuho will support clients in addressing governance and human rights issues by introducing services such as World–Check One1 and Due Diligence reports2 in response to "the Guidelines on Respecting Human Rights in Responsible Supply Chains" released by the Japanese government in September this year. This will enable its clients to confirm whether or not their suppliers and other business partners have a history of negative human rights impacts, and to efficiently identify and assess the risk of human rights violations in their business activities. It will also help prevent and mitigate such risks.
Mizuho is strengthening its sustainability action efforts to realize a sustainable society. Leveraging its expertise as a comprehensive financial services group, Mizuho is proactively developing and providing a variety of solutions that contribute to the sustainability transformation of its clients.
LSEG is a leading global financial markets infrastructure and data provider, playing a vital social and economic role in the world's financial system. With trusted expertise and global scale, it enables the sustainable growth and stability of its customers and their communities. At the centre of global financial markets, LSEG is a strategic enabler of sustainable economic growth, by accelerating the just transition to net zero, growing the green economy, and creating inclusive economic opportunity.
David Schwimmer, CEO, LSEG said:
"Mizuho is a long-standing valued customer and we are delighted to expand our relationship. We look forward to collaborating with Mizuho as a strategic partner by providing our broad range of sustainability solutions and data to help expand its services."
Masahiro Kihara, President & Group CEO, Mizuho Financial Group Inc. said:
"We are very pleased to be working with LSEG as a strategic partner. As sustainability becomes a global trend, we are confident that our collaboration with LSEG, which has accumulated a wealth of data and developed solutions on a global basis, will further strengthen Mizuho's support for our clients' efforts toward sustainability transformation. "
Notes
1: World Check One: Refinitiv™ World–Check® One is a screening platform designed to support, simplify and accelerate your customers' due diligence needs. It simplifies screening for money laundering, sanctions and terrorist financing, enables detailed monitoring of Politically Exposed Person (PEP) relationships and networks, and is customizable to identify a variety of specific third–party risks.
2: Due Diligence reports: Refinitiv Due Diligence reports can provide automated insights, standard and enhanced due diligence. They are suitable for any sector or business size, situated in any location in the world. Based on your organization's risk–based approach and internal policies you can rate your suppliers and third parties.
About Mizuho
Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. is a bank holding company and one of the world's largest full–service financial conglomerates. With offices in over 100 locations all over the world, Mizuho Financial Group employs approximately 60,000 employees worldwide and combines 140+ years of banking experience.
About LSEG
LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group) is more than a diversified global financial markets infrastructure and data business. We are dedicated partners with an open approach and a commitment to excellence in delivering the services our customers expect from us. With extensive experience, deep knowledge and worldwide presence across financial markets, we enable businesses and economies around the world to fund innovation, manage risk and create jobs. It's how we've contributed to supporting the financial stability and growth of communities and economies globally for more than 300 years.
Data & Analytics
Our acquisition of Refinitiv means we can provide the breadth and depth of financial data and best–in–class analytics that customers expect – driving innovation and growth across global markets. And our high–performance solutions – from trading to market surveillance, to wealth solutions and more – help to enhance the performance of our customers. FTSE Russell is a leading global provider of financial indexing, benchmarking and analytic services with more than USD 17 trillion benchmarked to our indices – and offers an extensive range of data services and research. The combination of Refinitiv and FTSE Russell provides LSEG with leading capabilities in data, analytics, indices and benchmarks.
Capital Markets
We offer our customers extensive access to capital markets and liquidity across multiple asset classes. We operate a broad range of international equity, fixed income, exchange–traded funds/exchange traded products and foreign exchange markets. Our Group is home to several capital formation and execution venues: London Stock Exchange, AIM, Turquoise, FXall and Tradeweb (through a majority ownership interest).
Post Trade
We support our customers' clearing and reporting obligations, providing risk, balance sheet and financial resource management solutions, whilst working with our other divisions to extend this support across the value chain. A leading global clearing house with a strong presence across multiple asset classes, LCH helps financial institutions all over the world use their capital efficiently and manage counterparty risk. We work closely with sell–side clearing members and buy–side clients in conjunction with trading venues globally.
UnaVista, a regulated platform that helps customers meet their reporting compliance obligations and reduce operational and regulatory risk through reporting, reference data and analytics solutions, further complements our Post Trade offering.
Through a comprehensive suite of trusted financial market infrastructure services – and our open–access model – we provide the flexibility, stability and trust that enable our customers to pursue their ambitions with confidence and clarity.
LSEG is headquartered in the United Kingdom, with significant operations in 70 countries across EMEA, North America, Latin America and Asia Pacific. We employ 23,000 people globally, more than half located in Asia Pacific. LSEG's ticker symbol is LSEG.