OREANDA-NEWS. On February 12, 2016, Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. established and announced the Policies Regarding Mizuho's Fiduciary Duties, which relate to the conduct of our asset management–related business. One of the Policies is to "promote a high degree of transparency in setting fees and commissions in the interest of providing high value–added services at a reasonable cost".

As such, Mizuho Bank, Ltd., Mizuho Trust & Banking Co., Ltd. and Mizuho Securities Co., Ltd. have agreed to disclose the handling fees that they receive for life insurance, commencing in October 2016 (provided consent is obtained from the insurance companies).

Handling fees for life insurance (specified insurance contracts) are paid by the insurance company to the sales agent. Until now, these fees have not been disclosed to customers, but it has been decided that from October 2016, Mizuho will voluntarily disclose these fees to customers signing contracts, to enable them to make more appropriate judgments.

Changes will also be made to the method of receipt of handling fees for single–premium insurance. With the introduction of a system whereby fees are divided into sales commission and renewal commission, and in response to the requirement laid out in the Policies for rational levels of compensation, fees and commissions, etc. to be set according to the nature of the products and services provided to customers, we will receive the fees as follows: sales commission in consideration of services such as consulting provided at the time of purchase of the insurance policy, and a certain amount of renewal commission, to be received periodically, in consideration of follow–up services provided after the purchase of the policy.

Mizuho has already been carrying out various initiatives aimed at fulfilling our fiduciary duties. These include: making investment more accessible by, for example, expanding our range of products and services for first–time investors; establishing an appropriate performance review system to evaluate initiatives which meet our customers' needs and are in their best interests; enhancing training for business promotion staff in order to improve consulting capabilities.