Japanese bank Mizuho Bank said its president and CEO Yasuhiro Sato will step down from his post and he will be replaced by deputy president Nobuhide Hayashi. Although Sato, 61, will become a board member with no authority to represent the bank, he will continue serving as president of the bank’s holding company, Mizuho Financial Group. He will cease to be Mizuho Bank’s president and CEO effective 1 April. In September and December, Mizuho Bank received a business improvement order from the Financial Services Agency over gangster-related loans. Sato said the decision to replace him was not a result of a debate over where the responsibility lies but added that there has not been a day that he didn’t feel remorse over the social responsibility for causing trouble for the public. Sato assumed the post of Mizuho Corporate Bank’s president in 2009. After becoming Mizuho Financial Group president in 2011, he has also served as Mizuho Bank president since July 2013, when Mizuho Bank and Mizuho Corporate Bank merged.
