Japan's Mizuho finance group sets up global business centre in Chennai

Standard Chartered, Bank of America, NatWest among companies that already have such centres in Tamil Nadu's capital city

Mizuho Financial Group (Mizuho), Japan’s third largest financial services group, has set up a global capability centre (GCC) in Chennai to become the latest international company to establish such a technology complex in Tamil Nadu’s capital city.

Chennai already has GCCs of Standard Chartered, Bank of America, NatWest, Wells Fargo, Barclays, the World Bank, and Citi. Mizuho said its GCC in Chennai will focus on banking and information technology operations and is a milestone in its commitment to enhance its global capabilities.

The Chennai centre will conduct advanced information technology and IT-enabled services in robotic process automation (RPA), artificial intelligence (AI), systems development, cybersecurity, and general banking operations. Mizuho Global Services (MGS), which will use the GCC, employs more than 250 people and plans to increase the number to 1,000 by 2025.

 

“Chennai's thriving ecosystem, enriched by a pool of talent with exceptional banking and IT skills, are some of the key factors for Mizuho to choose the city as its preferred destination for its Global Business Centre,” said the Tamil Nadu government in a statement Wednesday.

"Our current focus is on rapidly expanding our business and enhancing our capabilities to cater to the entire global network of Mizuho group. Establishing our office in a conducive business environment such as Chennai significantly bolsters our pursuit of these objectives," said Dharma Raja, managing director at Mizuho Global Services, India.

The city has become a strategic choice for global IT companies and the capability operations of major banks. Safety, good infrastructure, and expansion of Chennai Metro are among factors for the city to emerge as the leading, and preferred destination for global conglomerates, said the government statement.

“The government has been actively pursuing investments in the GCC space, and it is definitely yielding good results thanks to key enablers such as quality talent and necessary infrastructure,” said V Vishnu, managing director and chief executive officer of Guidance Tamil Nadu, the investment promotion agency of the state..

Standard Chartered boasts its largest global office campus in Chennai. In 2023, Bank of America secured the largest office space transaction in the city by leasing 1.1 million square feet.

Mizuho said it has more than 145 years of banking experience and caters to more than 80 per cent of Forbes Global 200 corporations (non-Japanese, excluding financial institutions) and 70 per cent of companies listed in Japan.