Mizuho Bank said Tuesday safe-deposit box valuables worth tens of millions of yen belonging to two customers were stolen in 2019 by an employee, following a similar incident reported by another Japanese megabank last year.
Mizuho Bank had not made the incident public "in consideration of its relationship with customers," an official said. The employee involved in the theft has already been dismissed but the bank did not disclose whether any criminal action was taken.
The bank reported the incident to the Financial Services Agency and took measures for the victims. It also reviewed the storage practice of keys to prevent a recurrence of such incidents, it said.
"We will consider further enhancing our management system," the official said.
The theft came to light after the bank in principle suspended accepting applications for use of safe-deposit boxes in January.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato refrained from commenting on the case but said the government will urge financial institutions to take necessary steps.
The revelation comes after MUFG Bank said last year there were thefts from safe-deposit boxes at branches, leading to the arrest of a former employee.
A Tokyo-based credit union also said last year that one of its male employees had illegally made a duplicate key and stolen cash from a safe-deposit box.
© KYODO
13 Comments
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Nagoya Neko
I would assume charges are pending. Does the bank have to reimburse the loss and isn't it a secret what people actually put in the boxes? Never used so just asking.
Rosie's Shukugawara
Didn't this happen a few times last year too?
Cephus
"Mizuho Bank says worker stole safe-deposit box valuables in 2019."
Transparency is a great thing in business. Its good to see Mizuho Bank didn't try sweeping it under the lag.
wallace
Deposit boxes in the west need two keys to open them.
リッチ
Reporting now?
The_Beagle
Looks like Japanese banks have internal security issues. A third-party audit should be conducted industry wide.
englisc aspyrgend
Makes you wonder what was in the boxes that the owners were so willing to keep it all secret?
dbsaiya
Mizuho? Is this surprising? These clowns are the joke of the industry. We'll also probably see another IT failure at their ATMs again in about a year.
gaijintraveller
"In consideration of its relationship with customers"?
Mizuho, thank you for caring about your customers. You are so considerate.
Is it possible Mizuho was more worried about losing customers if they knew how insecure the bank was?
Mocheake
That's SOP at these types of institutions here. Keep it as quiet as possible, wait for a while, then ramble about safety or relationships with customers blah blah blah. Bow deeply on TV. Then back to doing as they always have with little or no added protections and no transparency.
R_R
It is a traditional thing no problem haha
Aoi Azuuri
Especially since middle of 2010's, power person such as PM or ruling party politicians can escape penalty about no matter how illegal or unjust acts, large corporations are following it. in such country, it's a kind of inevitable that people who want to benefit even if it's illegal are increasing.
travelbangaijin
Even Japan safes are not safe.