Many financial institutions have committed to build a more gender-balanced industry through the United Kingdom’s HM Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter. Mizuho was one of the founding signatories to the Charter, believing the business case for gender equality and diversity plays an integral part of its strategy for driving business performance and success.

Building an inclusive financial sector

The Charter is a genuine commitment by HM Treasury and signatory firms to work together to build a more diverse and inclusive industry that reflects the government’s aspiration to see gender-balance at all levels across financial services firms. Joining the Women in Finance Charter was a natural ‘next step’ for Mizuho and further highlights their commitment to gender equality. 

Executive pay linked to diversity

Mizuho has appointed members of its most senior management to lead and champion the gender diversity and inclusion programme, and to take accountability for it. In addition, Mizuho has publicly pledged to increase female representation in senior management roles. So strong is their commitment, that senior executives’ pay is linked to achieving Mizuho’s published Women in Finance Charter targets for investment banking and corporate banking.

Encouraging and mentoring female talent

Mizuho has a number of initiatives in place to support their increase in the number of female senior managers across the business and to encourage and mentor their female talent. These include a cross-company mentoring scheme, returnships and apprenticeships.

More initiatives are in the pipeline. Mizuho has also changed its recruitment practices to include balanced representation on candidate lists and enhanced female representation on interview panels.

Transitioning back to work needn’t be difficult

Kate Pettican joined Mizuho in January 2016 after a three year career break. During her break, she attended two ‘Return to Work’ programmes which enabled her to assess what area of the financial industry she wanted to work in. “During my interview process, no one questioned my time away from work, but focussed on what the role and Mizuho had to offer. Transitioning back to work was a lot easier than I expected. I feel that there are plenty of opportunities for me to continue to grow and to develop my career without compromising my life outside of work.” Sonia Kanu has benefited from Mizuho’s commitment to gender equality and inclusion.

Sonia enjoyed a phased return to work after maternity leave. “At Mizuho, there’s so much scope for personal and professional growth,” explains Sonia. “The company has always supported my career growth and offered fabulous new opportunities.”