The Mizuho Financial Group has paid some 50 million yen in damages to Tokyo Electric Power Co. for losses Tepco incurred as a result of computer failures at Mizuho in April, Mizuho sources said Saturday.

The payment, made earlier this month, was mainly to cover Tepco's costs from mailing utility fee payment receipts to customers, the sources said.

Tepco staff usually give out receipts when they read customers' meters. Due to delays in payments and in Mizuho notifying Japan's largest power supplier of the payments, however, the staff were unable to give receipts to 640,000 customers.

Tepco later had to send postcards to the customers to notify them it had received their payments.

Mizuho is ready to compensate other companies for losses resulting from its computer problems, the sources said.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has already asked Mizuho for damages of some 17 million yen. Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. is also considering claiming compensation.

In all, it is estimated Mizuho will have to pay some 1 billion yen in damages.

Mizuho has also decided not to charge companies between 7 million yen and 8 million yen in fees for money transfers in the month of April.

The computer problem erupted almost immediately after the April 1 launch of Mizuho Bank and Mizuho Corporate Bank. The institutions were created through the integration of Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, Fuji Bank and the Industrial Bank of Japan under Mizuho Holdings Inc.