Japan’s biggest bank apologized Monday for the alleged theft by an employee of more than 1 billion yen from customers’ safe deposit boxes.
The bank, formally known as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc, said Monday that it was investigating and that verified thefts from about 20 of the 60 clients thought to have been affected amounted to 300 million yen. Compensation was being worked out, it said.
The thefts occurred at two Tokyo branches of the bank, from April 2020 until the end of October this year, when the problem was discovered.
MUFG’s president and CEO Junichi Hanzawa told reporters the female employee in her 40s responsible for managing the safe deposit boxes and their keys is suspected of taking advantage of that position to steal cash and other valuables.
“The case has undermined the customers' trust and confidence and shaken the very foundation of our banking business,” Hanzawa said. He apologized for causing concern and trouble to MUFG clients.
MUFG said the employee admitted taking the money and using it for investments and her personal purposes. She was fired and was cooperating with the bank's internal probe and a police investigation but has not yet been arrested.
After news of the thefts surfaced, dozens more people came forward with claims of suspected losses that the bank is working to verify, it said.
The MUFG case is the second recent one involving criminal activity at a major Japanese financial institution. In November, Nomura Holdings acknowledged that a former employee had been arrested on suspicion of robbery, attempted murder and arson targeting a client in Hiroshima.
Asked about the MUFG thefts, the chief government spokesman said Monday that banking operations require high levels of trust and a sense of public service.
The case was “extremely regrettable,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi.
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29 Comments
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JeffLee
The woman who took the money doesn't have to apologize?
ushosh123
Bad procedure, and Japan is big on those right?
njca4
I just knew it would be in here.
Does it sound more sincere in Japanese than it does in English?
Big
This is the problem with Japan: The apology is not good enough. What are doing to compensate the affected customers? What are you doing to make sure this doesn't happen again? There is never any detail, just empty apologies and bowing.
Gorramcowboy
Well that's that. He apologized. All's forgiven... until the next theft and subsequent apology.
daikaka
She was using it for host clubs, while the host gets to keep all the money. The same scheme repeats over and over again as Japanese females turn to crime, get caught and ruin their life, while hosts gets to keep hundreds of millions of yen
Aly Rustom
Hit the nail on the head.
exactly.
Big
It isn't the host's fault. The same as if she'd bought groceries with it, it wouldn't be the supermarket's fault. Blame lies with her and her alone. Second is the operating standards of the bank that allowed it to happen. Seems like you are trying to excuse the culprit because she is a woman.
The_Beagle
The Japanese have superlative apologies. Fixing the problem, not so much.
Tokyo Guy
Not to be That Japanophile Guy, but at least they apologised. Some countries would basically thumb their noses at their customers and hide behind regulations and lawyers to avoid having to pay anything back.
Hercolobus
Well, it is in the bank so the bank is responsible for restitution in full.
tokyo-star
the safes can only be opened with two keys - the bank's and the customer's - but the bank keeps spare customer keys for emergencies...and she just used the spare key! spare keys should have only been accessible by someone ELSE at the bank and covered by security cameras
WoodyLee
Bowing is not good enough,
It is almost impossible for most of these customers to remember what or how much they kept in these supposedly SAFE boxes and the bank knows that damn well so what they will do is they will pressure these customers and cast doubt on their stories so they can pay the least amount possible.
A double whammy for these customers, first the bank employee steals their savings then that bank heckles them.
Disgusting to say the least.
shogun36
sounds legit
NOT arrested.
shocker, not an inside job at all
JerseyDevil
"MUFG said the employee admitted taking the money and using it for investments and her personal purposes. She was fired and was cooperating with the bank's internal probe and a police investigation but has not yet been arrested."
100 CPM
" verified thefts from about 20 of the 60 clients"
A BRUTAL DESTINY!
dobre vam zajebava
this is how you can solve even BIG problem in Japan.
arrange nice haircut,new suit and bow NICELY...
Glen McAlevey
Utter nonsense!
The bank is covering it and the procedure is already changing.
Already a bounced that the spare keys will be kept at head office not the branch now.
Peter Neil
the bank will make full restitution.
using other depositors money, of course.
gsa
Here are some facts for the people who failed to read or read but failed to understand the article:
Bank verified thefts from about 20 of the 60 clients.
Compensation was being worked out
They identified the criminal
She was fired
Police investigation is underway
What else they were supposed to do, hang her high?
I feel like people just come here to express their distaste about Japan based on nonsense. If you dislike it that much, why even bother to read this site? It is clearly about Japan.
grc
Introducing foreigners to the unique custom of bowing in Japan, as reported in JT a few days ago, is a great idea
garypen
Wait, what?
masterblaster
The woman who took the money should have jumped on an airplane to a country without extradition. She could be enjoying life right now.
I hope the result isn't that if she tells what happened truthfully she'll avoid jail. She should be arrested.
ushosh123
There likely isn't an exact trail of who lost what. Sure some compensation is in order but the bank isn't suppose to have an exact record of what's in the safety box and the customer would have somewhat of a hard time proving it.
Perhaps the above plays into why she hasn't been arrested.
descendent
How are they "verifying" exactly? Anyone can claim any amount of loss. The whole point of the safety deposit box is that you can secretly put anything in there.
tokyo-star
a lot of the money in the safes could be considered 'dirty' and some customers might be unwilling to share details of how much they had or how they came into possession of it, lest the authorities delve into their misdeeds. there's probably a reason cash is in a safe and not a bank account - cos its dodgy
Roten
Second time for women in the news today for usual male-committed crimes. What a surprise.
Perhaps in this case the bank is hoping she kept detailed records of what she took out of which boxes because she may be the only one who can document what is missing. I expect the bank and its customers would be more interested in accurate records than in prosecuting this former employee. The bank could then reimburse the customers. Otherwise, they could be tempted to claim to have lost more than they actually had in their boxes.
Brian Wheway
She has not been arrested yet, why not???? Stealing that amount she should have been arrested on the spot
fxgai
Best to keep your cash and gold in your tansu!