(Jan 16): Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc said its banking unit chief and other senior executives will take pay cuts to take responsibility for the theft of millions of dollars from customers’ safety deposit boxes.

Junichi Hanzawa, CEO of MUFG Bank Ltd, and chairman Naoki Hori will have their compensation reduced by 30% for three months, the company said in a statement on Thursday. Other senior executives will take similar pay cuts.

Japan’s biggest bank said in November that it had fired an employee who allegedly stole money from the safe deposit boxes of dozens of customers. It now estimates ¥1.4 billion (US$9 million or RM40.5 million) was taken, and it has so far paid about ¥700 million in compensation to 40 customers.

The incident was caused by failures in managing the safe boxes at branches, along with a lapse in oversight at the bank’s headquarters, MUFG said in the statement. It pledged to strengthen protocols, such as by bolstering monitoring of staff entering deposit box rooms.

The former employee, a 46-year-old woman, was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of the theft. The bank said she used the stolen money mainly for foreign-currency investment.

MUFG said it will boost screening of staff before they are considered for promotion to managerial positions, including to find out whether they have been bankrupt or engaged in speculative investment such as FX trading. Those to be promoted will need to submit written pledges to maintain high ethical standards.

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