News Mizuho chief claims responsibility for fiasco that affected tens of thousands

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Terunobu Maeda, president of Mizuho Holdings Inc., said April 9 he will take responsibility for ongoing computer glitches at Mizuho Bank and Mizuho Corporate Bank that have caused delayed payments, ATM malfunctions and double billings.

Speaking at a news conference, Maeda said, "Completing system integration is my responsibility. Making the system stable is my responsibility. My job is not to quit to take responsibility just after I became president. But we have caused so much damage, and I am considering some form of making my own apology."

It was his first news conference since the computer glitches first appeared April 1, crippling the world's largest banking group in terms of assets, so that it was unable to deliver even the most basic retail services.

Tens of thousands of customers have been double-billed, 7,000 ATMs across the nation have failed to dispense cash and 500 to 600 companies have suffered payment delays.

"I apologize for not speaking to the public before," Maeda said. "We were unable to get a clear grasp of the situation; we didn't know about the system trouble until customers called in to complain."

Accountability will come only after Mizuho Financial Group is able to grasp the full extent of the system malfunction to prevent a recurrence Ea process that is likely to take until the end of the month.

Earlier that day Maeda made a public apology before a Lower House Committee on Financial Affairs, where he was summoned as an unsworn witness. "We deeply apologize for the tremendous trouble that we have caused," he said.

At one point during more than three hours of testimony, he prompted outrage by saying, "there was no actual harm done."

みずほ社長システム障害で陳謝

大規模なシステム障害を起こしたみずほ銀行の持ち株会社・みずほホールディングスの前田晃伸社長は4月9日、異例の参考人招致を受けた国会で陳謝した。多数の利用者に二重引き落としや口座振替の遅れなどの影響が出た。

Shukan ST: April 19, 2002

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