Press Conference by Yuji Yamamoto, Minister for Financial Services

(Excerpt)

February 16, 2007

Q.

Yesterday, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) ordered the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ to suspend some of its operations for having repeatedly provided questionable loans to a certain company despite their having been identified by successive management teams. Please describe your position on this matter.

A.

It is extremely regrettable that the bank had been doing favor for non-law-abiding element such as these for a long period of time. The fact is that this practice had been passed down over many years at the business base whereat the bank handles corporate affairs. Moreover, the management team and the headquarters had failed to deal with the situation appropriately. Considering that it did not examine effective remedies such as concrete countermeasures to revise the dealings, we issued an order as required. The impression it gives to shareholders, creditors, clients, depositors and the general public is an extremely regrettable one, that it is strong against the weak but weak against the strong, and in particular, that such an institution has no countermeasures against problems of violence in society, so we strongly urged the Bank to take measures to tackle this.

Q.

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ was reprimanded by the U.S. authorities at the end of last year in relation to its anti-money-laundering measures. What are your expectations regarding the Bank's constitution and future response?

A.

I sincerely hope that the bank firmly reorients its management system by looking at antisocial behavior or such issues as corporate social responsibility, compliance and morals from the general public's point of view. Especially in regards to internal control systems, we are currently receiving opinions on establishing implementation standards for internal governance, which we have asked the Business Accounting Council and others to deliberate thereon. Taking this into account as well, the internal governance reporting system is about to be established, so we want each financial institution to proactively commit themselves to making company-wide efforts to tackle such issues.

Q.

What do you think about the responsibilities of the top management of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ?

A.

It is not enough to just reprimand someone limited to the top management to counter antisocial elements. In making the bank strictly enforce training programs as stated in the business improvement order, what matters is improving its constitution and making everyone work together and tackle the situation in an organized manner across the board. In that sense, to counter organized crime groups, you cannot do anything by confining the matter to the top management alone. In that respect, I think that silent phone calls, harassment by stalking and other such activities cannot be resolved by small numbers of people in upper management alone or by other measures of that kind, unless training programs are based on the idea that all individuals must combine their efforts, form a scrum and tackle the matter together. I therefore hope the management team and all employees will engage in the training programs, and from such a perspective, each and every one of them feels repulsion toward antisocial elements and takes countermeasures against them in all stages of the business procedures starting at the bank counter.

(End)

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