Mizuho Financial Group said Tuesday its group net profit dropped 4.4 percent to 621 billion yen in the business year to March on losses incurred by consumer lender Orient Corp., Mizuho's affiliate known for its Orico card.
"A large portion of the losses we posted was due to Orico," President Terunobu Maeda said at a news conference. But he declined to comment on how deeply Orico's losses affected Mizuho's earnings report for fiscal 2006.
Mizuho is the latest big-name bank to see its profits plunge due to losses posted by an affiliated consumer lender.