Mizuho Financial Group Partners with Cognizant to Develop a Blockchain Solution for Secure Record-Keeping and Improved Customer Experience

Mizuho Financial Group, one of the largest financial institutions in the world, and Cognizant, a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services today announced a strategic agreement to develop a blockchain solution for secure record-keeping of documents among Mizuho Financial Group companies around the world.

This agreement marks the beginning of a strategic program at Mizuho to leverage blockchain technology for building new work processes to make transactions and digital interactions more secure, transparent, efficient and cost-effective, thereby delivering superior experience to customers.

As part of the agreement, Cognizant will bring together its extensive financial services, consulting and digital technology expertise to design and develop a blockchain solution for Mizuho’s customers, counterparties, and group companies to exchange and sign sensitive documents in a secure and transparent manner, resulting in faster, more efficient processing and multi-party verification. This engagement will initially focus on New York and Tokyo, where most Mizuho group companies are based.

Cognizant has been making focused investments to strengthen its blockchain capabilities, develop innovative digital frameworks and prototypes to harness distributed ledgers, and build a world-class alliance ecosystem. The company is collaborating with some of the world’s leading financial services organizations to help them embrace blockchain technology.

“We are pleased to be among the early adopters of blockchain technology in Japan to make our processes and workflows faster and more efficient,” said Toshitsugu Okabe, Deputy President and Executive Officer of Mizuho Financial Group. “The global domain and technology expertise of Cognizant will complement our vision and reinforce our reputation as the most trusted financial services group. We are impressed with Cognizant’s blockchain-based solutions for financial services organizations, and their sharp focus on this rapidly evolving technology.”

“Blockchain technology is a game-changer for the financial services industry,” said Prasad Chintamaneni, President, Banking and Financial Services, Cognizant. “We continue to invest in our blockchain capabilities and are going beyond cryptocurrencies into newer areas such as smart contracts and P2P transactions. This agreement will pave the way for increased adoption of Blockchain technology at Mizuho Financial Group to minimize counterparty risks, speed up settlements, improve contractual performance, and enhance regulatory reporting.”