TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Mizuho Financial Group (>> Mizuho Financial Group, Inc.) said it would set up a subsidiary in Frankfurt, the latest Japanese bank to choose the German city as its new base in the European Union as Britain prepares to leave the bloc, termed Brexit.

The decision was made as the bank assessed the likely impact of Brexit, and Mizuho's new subsidiary will "lead securities operations in the EU countries," the bank said in a statement dated Monday.

Financial institutions have already announced plans to open new subsidiaries in the EU to ensure they can continue serving customers there after March 2019.

Mizuho's peers Nomura (>> Nomura Holdings Inc), Daiwa Securities (>> Daiwa Securities Group Inc) and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (>> Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc.) have also said they are planning to set up new units there, as has British lender Standard Chartered (>> Standard Chartered).

Wall Street banks Morgan Stanley (>> Morgan Stanley) and Citigroup (>> Citigroup) both said last week they were going to establish their EU trading headquarters in the city to ensure they could still serve customers in the bloc after Brexit.

(Reporting by Sam Nussey, additional reporting by Rachel Armstrong; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)