Executives at a leading Japanese bank apologized and took pay cuts on Thursday after police arrested an employee who allegedly stole about 1.4 billion yen worth of valuables from customers’ safe deposit boxes.
The thefts at two branches of MUFG Bank spanned four years and were uncovered last October.
The employee, who was dismissed, is believed to have stolen gold, cash and other valuables worth about 1.4 billion yen from about 60 safe deposit boxes, according to the bank.
The bank, one of Japan's three megabanks, was formed in 2006 by the merger of UFJ Bank and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.
The employee, identified by Tokyo police as Yukari Iwamura, who also used the name Yamazaki, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of stealing 20 gold bars on two separate occasions from deposit boxes belonging to two customers.
Police said other charges may be added later since the losses reported by the bank are bigger. The case is still under investigation.
The executives taking pay cuts include Chairman Naoki Hori, Chief Executive Junichi Hanzawa and Managing Executive Officer Tadashi Yamamoto, who each took a 30% reduction over three months. Two other executives will receive a 20% cut over three months.
The bank promised to better monitor the spare keys of safe deposit boxes and strengthen checks over bank operations. It said customers were gradually being compensated for their losses.
“We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and concern this is causing customers and stakeholders,” it said in a statement.
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13 Comments
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factchecker
Nowhere near good enough. Some serious jail time should be dished out to these incompetent numbskulls.
dbsaiya
Should be fired, no severance pay. Anyone who loses that amount from a safe deposit box should be fired. The supervisor in charge of the safe deposit boxes should also be axed.
Seigi
All employees should better find another job. This bank is going to lose a lot of big-time customers!
grc
factchecker - you beat me to it. Why does Japan think all ethical and legal issues can be solved simply with money?
grund
This Japanese practice of having the executives reducing their pay for something an employee did is interesting. That the thieving employee should be punished goes without saying, but why are the executives punished for something they had nothing to do with?
obladi
Ms. Yukari Iwamura/Yamasaki single-handedly made life much worse for every single employee.
I wonder what she did with her ill-gotten gains...
Yubaru
And what is the plan to replace the money and compensate the victims for the unreplaceable?
Surely those "pay" cuts are far from enough.
Speed
It's admirable that these execs are taking partial blame and taking paycuts to show remorse. This NEVER happens in US companies.
Five Families
I remember a story I read back in 90"s
A rare Rolex went missing from the bank of China safe depsoit boxes inside of China.
My memory on this is a bit hazy.
The Rolex had been in family since WWII. That I remeber.
The bank is only as trustworthy as it employees.
100 CPM
"Executives at a leading Japanese bank apologized and took pay cuts on Thursday after police arrested an employee who allegedly stole about 1.4 billion yen worth of valuables from customers’ safe deposit boxes."
jalan5
"Police said other charges may be added later since the losses reported by the bank are bigger. The case is still under investigation."
borscht
Rather than a 30% reduction over three months, I think it should be a 30% reduction until retirement. I’m sure that would still be many times the average wage-earners pay.
It might also encourage early retirement.
YellowHat
@Grund
It’s about accountability. If an executive is directly (and substantially) affected financially by the actions of someone in their organization, there is a clear incentive to create a company culture that minimizes such actions. This is the kind of responsibility to match their salary.
It is actually an admirable response from MUFG; it only sounds strange because executives in most places, especially the West, would be outraged at the mere suggestion of it.