Remember the stories about Japanese who couldn’t get their money out of the banks, after the March 11 disasters?  The president of one of those banks has just resigned, because they weren’t prepared.

Satoru Nishibori, president of Mizuho Bank, will leave in June.  He failed to authorize a proposed computer update. The result was that all the ATMs in Japan shut down after the 9.0 quake.

This is not the first time Mizuho Bank had computer problems.  Back in 2002 when three banks merged under Mizuho Bank, there were problems caused by failing to integrate the three banks computer systems.  Two executives resigned over that.

But even after that officials with the bank did not see any reason to update their computer programs, which are 20 years old!  It took 10 days to restore the computer system, after the March 11 disasters.  It still does not run smoothly, because they have no manual, or personnel, to address such a problem!

There is word that action could be taken against the bank’s parent company, Mizuho Financial Group.  This is another example of how the Japanese are not prepared for disasters.