Mizuho Bank will open about 100 branches in six major cities over the next three year starting in April to target individual borrowers, group officials said Wednesday.

Most of the new branches of the bank -- one of Mizuho Financial Group Inc.'s two major banking arms -- will focus on financial products for individuals, including mortgages, deposits in foreign currencies and mutual funds, as the demand for loans by large companies is shrinking, they said.

The branches, which will be small and offer no corporate banking services, will have employees who will specialize in investment counseling.

The project marks the first plan by a domestic bank to make a large-scale change to its network since the banks increased branch consolidations in the late 1990s. The reductions were to cut costs and increase profits to cover the huge bad loans they had amassed during a period of aggressive lending during the late 1980s.

Mizuho's plan is an example of the banking industry's recent shift toward boosting profitability rather than emphasizing restructuring, industry watchers said.

"Our main battlefield will be the retail banking sector," Mizuho Financial Group President Terunobu Maeda said earlier.

The network expansion puts the group's competitive strategy into action, the observers said.

The other megabanks, which are being drawn to pursue business more aggressively as their operating profits grow, are likely to follow suit.