Mizuho Bank Ltd. has launched a new sales strategy to attract individual customers, taking measures such as raising interest rates on savings accounts in accordance with the amount deposited, it announced Monday.

Interest rates on savings accounts were previously the same as those on ordinary deposits. Savings accounts allow customers to freely make deposits and withdrawals and to manage assets separately from ordinary deposits used for daily expenses.

Deputy President Naoshi Inomata said, "We are now in a 'world with interest rates,' and it is important for customers to see some benefit from that."

The bank also has made its 2% point reward rate permanent for the Mizuho Rakuten Card, co-issued with the Rakuten group, removing the first-year-only restriction and the cap on reward points.

The following is excerpted from remarks made by Inomata at a press conference.

Question: With growing interest in NISA (Nippon Individual Savings Accounts) and retail government bonds, there are concerns about an outflow of deposits. What led you to adopt this new strategy?

Naoshi Inomata: If customers start using Mizuho Bank for their daily banking needs, even if their deposits temporarily decrease due to government bond purchases, they will inevitably return. Although there may be a time lag, (what matters) is how much customers use Mizuho Bank and whether they will keep their assets there, including those for investment.

Question: Some credit cards from other companies offer higher reward point rates. Did you consider relaxing conditions more important than (raising) point rates?

Inomata: Among credit cards with no fees or annual charges, we believe our reward rate is exceptionally high. As we want customers to use it as their primary card, not just for the one-year period (that was set in our previous campaign), we removed that condition.

Question: According to Bank of Japan statistics, the use of savings accounts has been sluggish. Why did you focus on them?

Inomata: Savings accounts were underutilized because their interest rates were exactly the same as those for ordinary accounts, offering no incentive to use them. We are now in a "world with interest rates," and it is important for customers to see some benefit from that.

----

This article is from The Yomiuri Shimbun. Neither Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch, Barron's nor The Wall Street Journal were involved in the creation of this content.

YDN-M0000231059-1