MUFG’s New Top Lawyer Seeks to Bolster Ranks as Rules Bite Banks

(Bloomberg) -- The new legal chief at Japan’s biggest bank wants to hire more experienced lawyers as it strives to meet tougher regulatory scrutiny and a changing industry landscape.

“We’ve been trying to meet the eye levels of authorities but they also keep rising,” said Hiroshi Mori, who in June became the first external candidate to be appointed chief legal officer at Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.

Hiring an outsider for a top role -- Mori is also a board member at the group’s main banking unit -- is almost unheard of at Japanese banks, which are grappling with legal risks as their global presence increases. MUFG has been penalized multiple times in the U.S., where it was ordered to fix deficiencies in its compliance with anti-money laundering and bank secrecy rules earlier this year.

“In the past, MUFG did not meet those levels, hence the consent order,” Mori said in an interview. “In the end, it’s about changing corporate culture.”

Read how MUFG was ordered to fix anti-money laundering lapses

Mori was previously a partner at Nishimura & Asahi, one of Japan’s largest law firms, where he was a corporate turnaround and finance specialist. Hiring an external professional was a project of MUFG Chief Executive Officer Kanetsugu Mike, who spent much of his career overseas where general counsel tends to play a critical management role.

Mori said it will be tough to find and hire experienced legal talent in Japan, given that there is a small number of business lawyers outside law firms. “Also there is a pay gap for good ones working at big firms,” he said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Taiga Uranaka in Tokyo at turanaka@bloomberg.net;Yuki Hagiwara in Tokyo at yhagiwara1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Marcus Wright at mwright115@bloomberg.net, Russell Ward

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