Mitsubishi UFJ's Oyamada Said to Resign for Health Reasons

(Bloomberg) -- Takashi Oyamada, one of the top executives at Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., is stepping down for health reasons, said people with knowledge of the matter.

Oyamada, 61, was chief executive officer of the company’s primary bank subsidiary, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ. He’ll be replaced by 60-year-old Kanetsugu Mike, chairman of MUFG Americas Holdings Corp., Reuters reported earlier, citing people it didn’t identify.

Kazunobu Takahara, a Tokyo-based spokesman for MUFG, said the bank has made no announcement and nothing specific has been decided.

MUFG shares rose 1.4 percent as of 11:01 a.m. in Tokyo, beating the Topix index of banking stocks, which was up 1 percent.

Oyamada will also step down as chairman of the Japanese Bankers Association, a position he assumed in April, said the people, who asked not to be identified as his resignation has not been announced. JBA spokesman Daiki Suzuki declined to comment.

In a recent interview, he said that "strong headwinds" from negative rates and an aging society mean that Japan’s banks should diversify and seek profits from sources other than loan interest.

Nobuyuki Hirano, 65, is the CEO of the parent company, which is Japan’s biggest bank.

--With assistance from Yalman Onaran and Zeke Faux

To contact the reporters on this story: Gareth Allan in Tokyo at gallan11@bloomberg.net, Shingo Kawamoto in Tokyo at skawamoto2@bloomberg.net.

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