Fuji Bank originated from a money-lending operation established in the 1860s by Yasuda Zenjirō, the founder of the Yasuda zaibatsu (business combine). In 1880 the business became the Yasuda Bank, the financial arm of the emergent combine. When the Yasuda zaibatsu was broken up after World War II, the bank was reorganized as Fuji Bank, Ltd., in 1948. An affiliate of Fuji Bank, Yamaichi Securities, was one of Japan's largest brokerage houses until it collapsed in 1997. Three years later Fuji Bank, Dai-Ichi Kangyō Bank, and the Industrial Bank of Japan merged, forming the Mizuho Financial Group (Mizuho Financial Group, Inc.), one of the world's largest financial institutions.