Mizuho Financial Group Inc. is considering investing about 80 billion yen ($554 million) to acquire a roughly 20 percent stake in Rakuten Securities Inc., sources familiar with the matter said Wednesday.
The plan comes after Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. has invested in internet financial giant SBI Holdings Inc., heating up competition among Japanese megabanks seeking to poach customers through online brokerages.
Mizuho, via its subsidiary Mizuho Securities Co., plans to buy part of Rakuten Securities shares, now totally owned by Rakuten Group Inc., around November, with the financial giant considering sending its executives to the brokerage.
The two companies are likely to reach an agreement later this week, the sources said.
Mizuho expects Rakuten customers to turn to the megabank in the future for such needs as managing an inheritance, while the deal enables Rakuten to handle a wider range of financial products, they said.
The predecessor company of Rakuten Securities was established in 1999 before being incorporated into the leading Japanese e-commerce group in 2003.
