Mizuho Financial Group Inc. plans to boost overseas lending by as much as 30 percent a year as it targets Asian companies unable to borrow from European banks that are retrenching amid the eurozone's debt crisis.
Japan's third-largest lender by market value is now marketing to about 120 potential borrowers globally, including Tata Group, Volvo AB and Prada SpA, said Nobuhide Hayashi, a managing executive officer at Mizuho's corporate banking unit.
The Mizuho group expects 30 percent of operating profit to come from abroad within three years and may consider acquiring a financial institution, Hayashi said in a recent interview.