MUFG promotes managing director Hanzawa to bank CEO (updated)

Resona Holdings

24/12/2020 07:35

(Adds details)
    By Takashi Umekawa
    TOKYO, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial
Group Inc  8306.T  named its managing director Junichi Hanzawa,
55, as the head of its core banking unit, as it seeks to
rejuvenate its business amid a tough lending environment.
    Hanzawa will become the chief executive of MUFG Bank,
Japan's biggest lender, effective April 1. Outgoing CEO
Kanetsugu Mike, 64, will become group chairman.
    MUFG said it would hold a news conference at 5 p.m. JST
(0800 GMT) on Thursday.
    The move comes as other financial firms like Resona Holdings
 8308.T  have recently appointed relatively younger officials by
Japan Inc standards to the top management position.
    Banks in Japan are seeking to transform their operations by
overhauling their branch networks and promoting digitalisation
amid ultra-low interest rates.
    For the Japanese public, Hanzawa's name is likely to bring
to mind the Naoki Hanzawa series of bestselling novels adapted
into a TV drama about a banker.
    Hanzawa and Jun Ikeido, the writer of the novels, were at
one time contemporaries at the bank.
    Ikeido, who has denied any connection between his character
and Hanzawa, congratulated Hanzawa on the promotion.

 (Reporting by Takashi Umekawa; Editing by Chris Gallagher and
Himani Sarkar)
 ((Takashi.Umekawa@thomsonreuters.com;))