Mizuho Bank enhances retail strategy with card rewards and new savings products

Mizuho Bank has launched a new retail strategy titled ‘Nattoku! Mizuho’ aimed at simplifying and enhancing personal financial services. A central component of this initiative is the overhaul of the ‘Mizuho Rakuten Card’ point program. The bank is making its ‘double point’ system permanent, allowing users to earn a combined total of up to 2% in rewards (comprising both Rakuten Points and Mizuho Points) without previous time or amount restrictions. The card remains free of annual fees.

Additionally, Mizuho is relaunching its ‘Savings Deposit’ product for the first time in approximately 17 years. This product offers tiered interest rates based on the account balance, providing a middle ground between standard savings and fixed-term deposits. Rates are set to increase in six stages as balances grow, starting at 0.4% for balances up to 100,000 yen.

The move comes amid intensifying competition among Japan’s megabanks, such as Mitsubishi UFJ and Sumitomo Mitsui, to capture deposits and personal wealth management as the era of positive interest rates returns.