Mizuho Financial and Dai-ichi to create Asia's largest asset manager

Mizuho Financial and Dai-ichi Life Insurance have announced that they are creating a new asset management company; it will be launched on October 1st, and manage assets worth around JPY 50tn ($434bn), making it Asia's largest pool of assets. The new company is to be the result of a merger of DIAM, Mizuho Asset Management, Shinko Asset Management and the asset management function of Mizuho Trust & Banking. The companies hope this new firm will help boost returns amid an increasingly difficult investment environment due to low interest rates. Some analysts predict the integration may prompt an industry reorganisation in Japan.

TOKYO -- Mizuho Financial Group and Dai-ichi Life Insurance on Thursday were to announce a new asset management company, according to sources.

The new company, to be launched on Oct. 1, is to manage assets worth about 50 trillion yen ($434 billion), which would be Asia's largest pool of assets. The parent companies hope the scale will help boost returns amid an increasingly difficult investment environment due to low interest rates.