Mizuho’s J-Coin COVID-19 Support Fund
Literally hidden on the very last page of Mizuho Financial Group’s 2020 fiscal year first quarter financial results, one could find the mention of the J-Coin Fund, established by Mizuho in collaboration with other financial institutions participating in J-Coin, and J-Coin Pay users under the umbrella of the Public Resource Foundation (公益財団法人パブリックリソース財団).
The fund, which second application period has closed on August 6, will notify grantees on August 31 of the evaluation results. Overall, up to JPY 2m are available to support an expected 100 organizations during the grant period from early September to the end of March 2021.
The fund will support non-profit organizations (NPOs) with the funds necessary to carry out business activities in the following four areas related to the outbreak of new coronavirus infectious diseases and the impact of infection control measures.
- Support for medical institutions and medical personnel
- Support for socially vulnerable people such as children, poor people, persons with disabilities
- Support for high school students, university students, junior college students, vocational school students, etc. who have difficulty living and are unable to continue their studies
- Support for local communities and regional revitalization
Beyond these donations, Mizuho also highlighted the extent to which it has offered various commercial support programs, including various debt and equity funds, as well as the servicing of significantly increased loan demand from domestic middle market firms and SMEs (with saw a huge jump in April, with deceleration setting in by June). In an interview with the Japan Times, Chief Executive Officer Tatsufumi Sakai said that the bank will use money freed up by selling so-called cross-shareholdings — typically passive stakes in companies. Mizuho reduced those holdings by JPY 147.8bn last fiscal year and plans to offload a similar amount by March 2022,
If you found value in this article, please “clap” (up to 50 times).
This article is part of our Tokyo FinTech Publication, please follow us to read more from our writers, like hundreds of readers do every day.
Should you live in Tokyo, or just pass through, please also join our Tokyo FinTech Meetup. In any case, our LinkedIn page, Facebook page and our Instagram account are there for you as well.
