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Employee theft should never occur at banks, which hold their customers’ precious assets. The deterioration in professional ethics is serious. The reliability of the financial industry is likely to be called into question fundamentally.
MUFG Bank held its first press conference on Dec. 16 about thefts in which an employee stole cash and other items from safe-deposit boxes. MUFG Bank President Junichi Hanzawa apologized, saying, “This shakes the very foundation of the banking business, which is based on trust and confidence.”
The situation was uncovered at the end of October. A female employee in her 40s was dismissed in a disciplinary action, effective Nov. 14.
A safe-deposit box service allows customers to store securities and deposit books, valuables and other items for a fee. The basis of this service is trust in the bank. When an employee steals assets from safe-deposit boxes, it destroys that trust completely.
Bank customers also have great concerns. Explanations came too late, as it took a month and a half from the time the situation was discovered to the press conference. It is also questionable that the bank did not disclose whether it would file a criminal complaint. It cannot definitively be said that the bank is sincerely addressing the concerns of its customers.
The management of MUFG Bank said there was a delay in explaining to the public because it prioritized compensation for the victims. But isn’t its recognition of the seriousness of the incident being committed by an in-house staffer too lax?
The employee in question is said to have stolen cash and precious metals from safe-deposit boxes from April 2020 to October this year at three branches in Tokyo where she worked. About 60 users were affected, with the estimated total damage reaching more than ¥1 billion.
The employee was in charge of managing keys to safe-deposit boxes and was able to unlock them without permission. She was also said to have dealt with customers almost single-handedly. This is a very sloppy management system.
The Financial Services Agency has ordered MUFG Bank to submit a report on the incident. The FSA should conduct a thorough investigation and deal with the matter strictly.
Recently, there have been a number of criminal acts in the financial industry that are hard to believe.
A former male employee of Nomura Securities Co. was indicted in November on charges including robbery and attempted murder. He is accused of visiting the home of an elderly woman who was a client, getting her to take a sleeping pill, stealing cash from her and then setting fire to her house in an attempt to kill her.
MUFG Bank and Nomura Securities are both top members of their field. They are in a position to take the lead and set an example. This is an alarming situation.
The government is promoting policies to encourage investment of personal assets, but this situation does not make people feel confident about leaving their assets in the hands of financial institutions.
This year, a number of other incidents have surfaced, such as insider trading by a manager at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank and market manipulation at Nomura Securities. The financial industry as a whole needs to promote thorough education on professional ethics.
