NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Jan 26, 2015) - Mizuho Securities USA (NYSE: MFG) ("MSUSA"), the U.S. investment banking subsidiary of the global Mizuho Financial Group, today announced the appointment of Charles T. Croney, CFA as Head of International Trading. Mr. Croney will focus on the further expansion of MSUSA's international equity trading by adding coverage and accounts. He will report to Matthew DeSalvo, Head of MSUSA's Equity Division.

Mr. Croney has more than twenty years of financial markets experience, most recently as Managing Director and Head of US Equity Trading at Renaissance Capital, where he managed sales and trading across multiple international markets and served on the US Executive Committee. Prior to that, Mr. Croney was Head of International Trading at Lehman Brothers and Nomura. He began his financial career in the Equity Division of Goldman Sachs.

John Koudounis, MSUSA's President & CEO, stated, "Charles will be a strong asset to MSUSA as his experience at other top firms proves he is a strong performer in the Equity space. Our growing Equities platform will undoubtedly benefit from this new hire and this is a prime example of MSUSA's commitment to this business."

Matthew DeSalvo, MSUSA's Head of Equities, stated, "We are in the process of reorganizing our Equity business to better align our strengths with our affiliates in the global Mizuho Securities Group. Charles will lead us to new heights as Head of International Trading, a new position for MSUSA and demonstrates our continued and persistent commitment to increasing the Equities footprint of Mizuho Securities USA."

This appointment follows the hires of Derek Dillon as Head of Equity Capital Markets and Sheryl Skolnick as Director of Equity Research.

About Mizuho Securities USA
 Mizuho Securities USA Inc. is a U.S. registered broker-dealer headquartered in New York City, with offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Hoboken (NJ), Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and London (UK). MSUSA provides a wide range of fixed income and equity securities products and investment banking services to institutional clients. MSUSA is one of only 22 firms designated as a Primary Dealer in U.S. Government and Agency securities. MSUSA also is a U.S. registered futures commission merchant ("FCM") and a member of most international futures exchanges. MSUSA's parent company, Mizuho Securities Co., Ltd., is a top-tier, full-service, Japanese securities firm and a core member of the Mizuho Financial Group. http://www.mizuhosecurities.com

Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: MFG), based in Japan, is one of the largest financial institutions in the world, offering a broad range of financial services including banking, securities, trust and asset management, credit card, private banking services, and venture capital through its group companies. The group has approximately 56,000 staff working in more than 920 offices in over 32 countries and total assets of over $1.71 trillion as of September 30, 2014. Its core global corporate banking entity, Mizuho Bank, Ltd., has offices throughout Japan, the U.S., the Americas, and the world, providing financial and strategic solutions to major corporations, financial institutions and public sector entities. For more information, please visit http://www.mizuho-fg.co.jp/english/