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MUFG Bank Head Apologizes for Safe Deposit Thefts by Ex-Employee

The Yomiuri Shimbun
MUFG Bank President Junichi Hanzawa and other executives bow at a press conference in response to a theft scandal involving its employee, in Tokyo on Monday.

Jiji Press

17:43 JST, December 16, 2024

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — MUFG Bank President Junichi Hanzawa on Monday apologized for thefts by a then employee of customer assets worth more than ¥1 billion in total from safe deposit boxes.

“We take the incident seriously and recognize that it undermines trust and confidence, which are the foundations of the banking business,” Hanzawa told a news conference.

The news conference was the first held by the major Japanese bank since the incident, currently under police investigation, was made public on Nov. 22.

According to the bank, the then employee took cash, precious metals and other items of about 60 customers from safe deposit boxes at its Nerima and Tamagawa branches in Tokyo between April 2020 and October 2024. The bank discovered the misconduct after a customer complaint.

The employee, a woman in her 40s, was in charge of managing safe deposit boxes, and is believed to have opened the boxes using the spare keys stored at the branches. The bank dismissed the employee on Nov. 14.

Over the incident, the Financial Services Agency has ordered MUFG Bank to submit a report under the banking law.