Mizuho Bank Europe Annual Report 2018

20 MIZUHO BANK EUROPE N.V. Our Supervisory Board continuously and proactively evaluates whether the Management Board has the expertise required by DNB. In 2018, the Management Board members attended several in-house and external courses, including leadership seminars. Additionally, as a Board and on an individual basis, we are committed to pursuing a program of lifelong learning and we also attended the Lifelong Education Program of the Supervisory Board. When making decisions, as a Management Board we strive to put our customers’ interests first. Our mission statement, “Customer’s (interest) first” is the guiding principle for the Mizuho Code of Conduct. To ensure that the mission statement and the company’s values are truly embedded and understood by all employees, significant effort was made to enhance the onboarding program of new employees and to engage all employees in company strategy related discussions. As part of that effort, we enhanced our Vision and Strategy Committee structure by actively engaging additional managers and new employees to contribute fresh ideas aligned with our vision and strategy. In this year we revisited our focus areas for our strategies in order to more effectively address the internal and external developments. As a result our efforts will now continue to be directed toward corporate culture and human capital, and additionally to operational excellence with digital innovation and superior service. We will continue this effort to ensure it is embraced in all parts of the organization as well as all layers of the organization. As a Management Board we also organized various off-site sessions with all management layers to discuss vision and strategy and various other external developments, such as Brexit and new European regulations, that may impact our business and customers. Additionally, to ensure we have a healthy and motivated team, our Supervisory Board and Management Board commissioned a follow-up cultural survey assessment and conducted various employee feedback sessions. We actively participated in key discussions with our supervisory board, shareholder, (senior) managers and all employees about our current and future strategy, which included looking for new business opportunities and developments to make the company more resilient against market developments and the evolving regulatory landscape. In addition to periodic meetings with department managers, we also actively participated in key committees, such as Supervisory Board, Risk Committee, Asset and Liability Management Committee, Portfolio Management Committee, Remuneration Committee, Vision and Strategy Committee and Management Committee. In order to enhance communication between the Management Board and employees, we also held various employee information sessions to explain items such as the company’s strategy and current status. Our diverse and talented employees are committed to providing top-notch service to our customers, while simultaneously upholding the highest level of integrity for the regulatory environment. With respect to organizational changes, we made certain key changes to enhance efficiencies and controls, particularly in the field of IT and facility service functions, regulatory reporting and salary administration. Additionally, in order to further enhance local credit control, we established a new Credit Assessment department.