Greeting

Seeking to Become Japan's Strongest Investment Bank

[ Introduction ]
Mizuho Securities was established in October 2000, its mission being to become Japan's first full-scale investment bank. Since then, we have served as the core securities arm of the Mizuho Financial Group as part of its "Global Corporate Group" portfolio strategy. In this role, we continue to deliver highly specialized products and services to meet the wide-ranging needs of domestic and overseas customers, centering on institutional investors and corporations, as well as financial and public institutions. We owe our rapid growth to the understanding and support of various stakeholders, including clients, shareholders, and employees.

[ Mission Statement ]
The essence of our mission statement is to foster the development of capital markets as Japan's representative market leader, by providing investment banking services mainly to corporate clients and adopting an honest approach to the market.
Based on this principle, we will deliver the best solutions for our customers with foresight and a spirit of innovation. Always maintaining a market-oriented perspective, we will contribute to the sound evolution of capital markets as a diligent and fair player with a strong emphasis on legal and ethical compliance.

[ Business Strategies ]
Mizuho Securities' operations are broadly classified into two businesses:
(1) Global Investment Banking Groups, and (2) Global Markets & Products Groups. In both areas, we have considerably increased our market presence.
In the Global Investment Banking Groups, we have grown to become a major market player, having lead-managed multiple large-scale financing issues. Moreover, we have earned major market shares in the leading-edge and innovative fields of structured finance and Japanese real estate investment trusts (J-REITs), and we are building a formidable tracking record as Japan's top M&A advisory house. Meanwhile, Mizuho Securities USA Inc. is steadily building a track record in underwriting U.S. corporate bonds, stocks, and other issues. For example, the firm was the first company affiliated with a Japanese bank to lead-manage a bond issue by a U.S. private-sector company.

In the Global Markets & Products Groups, we have enjoyed market leader status in the fixed income segment since our foundation. We have also focused our managerial resources on the equity business, where we have swiftly established a solid market presence. In addition to the wholesale securities business, targeting mainly institutional investors and corporations, we are expanding our business to satisfy the needs of the middle and retail markets. This is in response to changes in money flows among individuals, who are shifting their emphasis from saving to investment. We are particularly active in providing securities intermediary services by building collaborative agreements with regional and other financial institutions.

Seeking to further reinforce our capabilities in these strategic areas, we signed a merger agreement with Shinko Securities Co., Ltd., in March 2007. In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008, however, we suffered large losses in the wake of financial and capital market dislocation triggered by the U.S. sub-prime loan problem. Such dislocation was still ongoing and showed no sign of being resolved, and market conditions remained highly volatile. Therefore, we decided to postpone the merger with Shinko Securities.

In April 2008, we announced the implementation of our "Business Restructuring Program." Under the program, we are committed to swiftly restoring and reinforcing profitability by strengthening our risk management system and other internal control mechanisms and undertaking drastic reforms to our business operations. The merger with Shinko Securities is scheduled to take effect in May 2009, subject to the approval of the shareholders' meetings of both companies and the relevant authorities. In any case, we will leave no stone unturned in our quest to become "a full-service securities company that conducts investment banking business on a global basis." Returning to the basics, we will fulfill our social responsibilities by conducting our business with high integrity according to our corporate philosophy. With this as our mission, we will take successive actions aimed at earning the high acclaim of business partners and all of our stakeholders.

On behalf of Mizuho Securities, I look forward to your renewed understanding and support as we continue our quest to become Japan's leading full-scale investment bank.