Mizuho Financial Group Inc. opened an investment banking venture Monday in Saudi Arabia.

Mizuho's corporate banking unit and its Mizuho Securities Co. affiliate said the Riyadh-based operation will offer asset management services to Saudi Arabian customers and mergers and acquisition advice to Japanese firms in the nation.

Mizuho, Japan's third-largest bank by market value, joins Nomura Holdings Inc., Japan's biggest brokerage, in starting investment-banking operations in Saudi Arabia. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. have also entered the Arab state, seeking to profit from wealth created by rising oil prices.