Megabank groups to cut new grad hiring in spring 2019

March 24, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's three megabank groups including Mizuho Financial Group Inc. will reduce the number of new graduates they will hire in April 2019, it was learned Saturday.

Mizuho Financial plans to hire some 700 new graduates in spring next year, about half the number this year, when the group employed 1,365 people including those hired by key units Mizuho Bank and Mizuho Trust & Banking Co.

Mizuho Financial aims to shed 19,000 jobs by fiscal 2026 by improving business efficiency through the use of information technology. The hiring reduction is part of the move.

Mizuho Financial set the hiring policy for spring next year after seeing progress toward the development of its new core system.

The number of new graduates Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, the core unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. <8306>, will hire next spring will decrease some 10 pct from 1,050 this year.

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., under the wing of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. <8316>, also plans to reduce new hires next spring from 810 this spring.

Behind the reductions are the deteriorating business environment in the industry mainly due to prolonged ultralow interest rates.

In Japan, many major companies in other sectors are actively hiring new graduates on the back of economic recovery and labor shortage.

Despite the favorable situation in the overall job market for new graduates, securing employment at the big banks, popular among job-hunting students, is likely to become more difficult. Jiji Press