{"url_path":"/sec/mfg/10-k/2026/item-16g","section_key":"item-16g","section_title":"Item 16G CORPORATE GOVERNANCE","topic":"sec","document":{"doc_type":"20-F","doc_date":"2026-06-26","source_url":"https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1335730/0001193125-26-283791-index.html","accession_number":"0001193125-26-283791","cik":"0001335730","ticker":"MFG","issuer_name":"MIZUHO FINANCIAL GROUP INC","edgar_url":"https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1335730/0001193125-26-283791-index.html","primary_entity_key":"0001335730","primary_entity_name":"MIZUHO FINANCIAL GROUP INC"},"word_count":1071,"has_tables":true,"body_markdown":"ITEM 16G.\n\n CORPORATE GOVERNANCE\n\nMizuho Financial Group’s corporate governance practices are governed by applicable Japanese laws, specifically the Companies Act and Financial Instruments and Exchange Act of Japan, and its articles of incorporation and corporate governance guidelines. The company transformed itself from a Company with Audit & Supervisory Board to a Company with Three Committees as of June 24, 2014.\n\nBecause Mizuho Financial Group’s shares are registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”), the company is also subject to corporate governance requirements applicable to NYSE-listed foreign private issuers. NYSE-listed companies that are foreign private issuers meeting certain criteria are permitted to follow home country practices in lieu of certain provisions of Section 303A, and Mizuho Financial Group is relying on this exemption.\n\nA NYSE-listed foreign private issuer is required to provide to its U.S. investors a brief, general summary of the significant differences of corporate governance practices that differ from those followed by NYSE-listed U.S. companies. The following is a summary of the significant ways in which Mizuho Financial Group’s corporate governance practices differ from NYSE listing standards followed by U.S. companies:\n\n \n\n \n•\n \n\nA NYSE-listed U.S. company is required to have a majority of directors that meet the independence requirements under Section 303A of the NYSE’s Listed Company Manual. The Companies Act does not require Mizuho Financial Group to have a majority of “independent” directors on the board; rather, it requires the company to have a majority of “outside” directors on each of the Nominating Committee, the Compensation Committee and the Audit Committee, each established as a committee, pursuant to the requirements that apply to a Company with Three Committees. An outside director is defined under the Companies Act as a director who meets all of the following requirements: (a) a person who is not currently, and has not been in the ten years prior to his or her assumption of office as outside director, an executive director, an executive officer, a manager, or any other type of employee (“Executive Director, etc.”) of the company or its subsidiaries; (b) if a person has been a non-executive director, an audit & supervisory board member, or an accounting adviser of the company or its subsidiaries within the ten years prior to his or her assumption of office as outside director, a person who was not an Executive Director, etc., of the company or its subsidiaries in the ten years prior to his or her assumption of office as such; (c) a person who is not (i) a person who controls the company (including the company’s parent company) (“Parent Company, etc.”) and who is a natural person or (ii) a director, an executive officer, a manager or any other type of employee of a Parent Company, etc.; (d) a person who is not an Executive Director, etc., of another subsidiary of a Parent Company, etc.; and (e) a person who is not a spouse or a family member within the second degree of kinship of (i) a director, an executive officer, a manager, or any other type of important employee of the company or (ii) a Parent Company, etc., who is a natural person. In addition to the requirements under the Companies Act, Mizuho Financial Group’s independence standards for outside directors set forth additional independence requirements on a voluntary basis. Such additional requirements include, but are not limited to, restrictions against persons that are related to a principal business counterparty of Mizuho Financial Group and its Three Core Companies (Mizuho Bank, Mizuho Trust & Banking and Mizuho Securities), entities to which Mizuho Financial Group and its Three Core Companies are a principal business counterparty, entities that receive more than a specified amount of donations from Mizuho Financial Group or its Three Core Companies, entities to which directors have been transferred from us, our accounting auditor, law firms and consulting firms that receive more than a specified amount of fees from Mizuho Financial Group or\n\n \n\n188\n\n \n\nits Three Core Companies, as well as persons who otherwise are likely to give rise to consistent substantive conflicts of interest in relation to general shareholders. Mizuho Financial Group may, however, appoint a person as an outside director who does not satisfy the additional independence requirements but who it believes to be suitable for the position with sufficient independence in consideration of such person’s character and insight, provided that it externally provides an explanation as to the reason it believes such person qualifies as an outside director with sufficient independence.\n\nCurrently, Mizuho Financial Group has eight outside directors among the 14 directors.\n\n \n\n \n•\n \n\nA NYSE-listed U.S. company is required to have an audit committee composed entirely of independent directors. Currently, among the four members of the Audit Committee, three members including the Chairperson are outside directors and one member is an internal non-executive director in compliance with the requirements under the Companies Act, and all such committee members are independent under Rule 10A-3 under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934 with two members qualified as audit committee financial experts.\n\n \n\n \n•\n \n\nA NYSE-listed U.S. company is required to have a nominating/corporate governance committee and a compensation committee, both of which must be composed entirely of independent directors. Currently, the Nominating Committee and the Compensation Committee consist solely of outside directors in compliance with the requirements under the Companies Act.\n\n \n\n \n•\n \n\nA NYSE-listed U.S. company must hold regularly scheduled executive sessions where participants are limited to non-executive directors. Currently, the Outside Director Session consists solely of outside directors and is held at least once a year, where the outside directors discuss matters such as issues facing management, the operation of the Board of Directors and the governance systems, and provide opinions as appropriate to our Group CEO.\n\n \n\n \n•\n \n\nA NYSE-listed U.S. company must adopt corporate governance guidelines and a code of business conduct and ethics and must post those on its website. While Mizuho Financial Group is not required to adopt such guidelines and code under applicable Japanese laws or the rules of the stock exchange in Japan on which it is listed, in June 2014, the company established and has been updating its corporate governance guidelines that sets forth its basic policy, framework and governing policies regarding the corporate governance system in Mizuho Financial Group and also maintains the “Mizuho Code of Conduct” as its standard for corporate conduct to be observed by its directors, officers and employees."}