DBRS Places Mizuho Bank, Ltd.’s “A” Rating Under Review with Negative Implications

DBRS has today placed the long- and short-term ratings of Mizuho Bank, Ltd. (Mizuho or the Company), including ratings of its Issuer and Long-Term Deposits and Senior Debt of “A” and its Short-Term Instruments of R-1 (middle), Under Review with Negative Implications. This rating action follows DBRS’s announcement that it has removed the rating floor for critically important banking organizations (CIBs) in Japan (see “DBRS Removes Japan Rating Floor,” published October 9, 2013, for further details). The review of Mizuho’s ratings will assess the impact of the removal of the rating floor.

DBRS removed Japan’s “A” rating floor on October 9, 2013, following an assessment of the applicability of the rating floor for CIBs in Japan. The Issuer and Long-Term Deposits and Senior Debt ratings of Mizuho incorporated two notches of uplift from the Intrinsic Assessment (BBB (high) for Mizuho), with one notch of this uplift resulting from the application of the rating floor.

Following the removal of the rating floor, the review will consider whether the ratings of Mizuho should continue to benefit from this higher level of support. In addition, the review will examine the Company’s operating results, financial fundamentals and future prospects in determining its appropriate intrinsic rating levels. The review is expected to be completed within 90 days.

Notes:
This rating did not include issuer participation and is based solely on publicly available information.

The related regulatory disclosures pursuant to the National Instrument 25-101 Designated Rating Organizations are hereby incorporated by reference and can be found by clicking on the link to the right under Related Research or by contacting us at info@dbrs.com.

The applicable methodologies are Global Methodology for Rating Banks and Banking Organisations and DBRS Criteria: Intrinsic and Support Assessments, which can be found on our website under Methodologies.