Mizuho Securities’ first female wealth management head is targeting sixfold growth in her firm’s asset advisory business, as she joins a still short list of female leaders in Japan’s financial sector. Tomoko Hama was picked in June as president of MiRaI Wealth Partners, 95% owned by Mizuho, with online brokerage Rakuten Securities holding the remaining 5%. She is tasked with increasing the value of assets the company advises clients on to more than ¥100 billion ($652 million) in five years, from about ¥16 billion at the end of August.
Hama is the first female president of a Mizuho Securities group company, according to a spokesperson, and a rarity in Japan’s finance sector, which lags behind other major economies in hiring women as senior managers. As of this month, the heads of Japan’s 13 biggest banks, brokerages and insurers were all men including Mizuho Financial Group, Nomura Holdings and Nippon Life Insurance, according to Bloomberg-compiled data.
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