Abstract: My name is Ho Thi Thao, a master’s student at Vietnam-Japan University (VJU), majoring in Business Administration (MBA) intake 06th. From 13/12/2022 to 11/01/2023, I had the valuable opportunity to do an internship at Mizuho Bank Ha Noi Branch. This chance helped me meet many talented people and learned a lot of interesting things.
In the 4th semester at Vietnam-Japan University, I had the opportunity to choose to do an internship at one company. Since my background is in finance, I had the desire to be an intern in the field of banking and finance. Thanks to the connection and guidance of Vietnam-Japan University, I had the chance to do an internship at the Hanoi Branch of Mizuho Bank – one of the largest banks in Japan, at the M&A team under the Japanese Corporate 2 department.
My first impression of Mizuho Bank is the strict recruitment and security processes. Right from the interview round, I was interviewed by the human resources department and senior managers of the bank in Hanoi to get acquainted and discuss my expectations when working here. I understand that, for a bank, security is very important. Therefore, on the first day of my internship, I was trained by departments such as Human Resources, Compliance, and General Administration about the structure of Mizuho Bank in general and Mizuho Hanoi Branch in particular, on rules related to security at the bank. Thanks to that, I easily got used to and quickly adapted to the working environment at Mizuho Bank.
My second impression of Mizuho Bank is the environment and workspace. Everyone works in a completely open space, senior leaders and employees sit together on the 4th floor of the 63 Ly Thai To building. The open and friendly working space makes it easy for me to meet, talk and get acquainted with the staff here as well as understand more about Mizuho’s culture. It is thanks to such a working style that I feel that everything is solved very quickly, directly, and openly.
My third impression is that the people at Mizuho, not only Japanese but also Vietnamese, are very professional, punctual, and meticulous. I have learned a lot from them, especially Mr.Ban-head of the department, and Ms. Linh-my direct supervisor. To make my internship meaningful and practical, Mr. Ban and Ms. Linh were always open and asked for my opinion on what I wanted to do and then built an internship program based on my expectations. Not only understanding the organizational structure, and operational departments at Mizuho Bank as well as supporting research on the 3F (Feed-Farm-Food) industry in Vietnam, I also had the chance to visit customers (e.g., Japanese food factory) and strategic partners of Mizuho Bank, Vietcombank. At the factory, I understood how a dairy factory worked and how the restructuring was implemented when the Japanese investor bought the shares of the factory. During the field trip at Vietcombank, I learned more about the operations of the head office, as well as the international payment activities of Vietcombank – the most profitable bank in Vietnam. These were valuable experiences when I could meet organizations’ leaders and discuss with them business-related questions that I had learned in the MBA course at VJU.
On the last day of my internship, thanks to Ms. Linh’s supervision and suggestions, I successfully presented my presentation at Mizuho Bank and received many compliments from Mr. Matsunami-General manager of Mizuho Bank Vietnam as well as from other participants.
Although the internship period is short for only one month, I believe that I have gained a lot of knowledge related to the banking, and M&A field as well as valuable practical experiences at Mizuho and Mizuho’s partners. The internship at Mizuho was not only knowledge, but the most valuable thing I received was meeting the wonderful people at Mizuho. I am grateful to the Mizuho Bank’s board of managers for giving me this opportunity, to Mr. Ban, Ms. Linh, Ms. Thu, Mr. Aiba, Mr. Nakazawa, Ms. Lan, the M&A team in particular, and the Japanese Corporate department in general for the detail guidance and always supporting me in the journey. I hope in the future, many MBA students of VJU will be able to do an internship at Mizuho Bank and the relationship between Mizuho Bank and VJU will become stronger and stronger.
Ho Thi Thao, MBA 06th intake
