Japan Cracks Down on MUFG Bank for Firewall Breaches

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Japan’s banking regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA), has ordered Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group’s (MUFG) banking and securities units to enhance their compliance measures after multiple violations of “firewall” regulations were discovered. This directive follows an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC), which identified several breaches of these regulations.

The FSA has mandated that each of the MUFG units must identify the root causes of these breaches and submit business improvement plans to ensure such violations do not recur. This action is reminiscent of a similar penalty imposed less than two years ago on the securities arm of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, which faced market manipulation charges. Sumitomo Mitsui was then required to halt the offending business line and improve its compliance measures.

In mid-June, the SESC recommended that MUFG Bank and its two securities partnerships with Morgan Stanley be penalized for unauthorized sharing of client information. The investigation revealed at least 26 instances where confidential information was improperly exchanged between MUFG Bank and the two securities firms—Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities and Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities. Additionally, it was found that MUFG Bank had offered preferential lending rates to clients who also did business with the two securities brokerages.

Japan’s “firewall” regulations strictly prohibit banks and securities firms within the same group from sharing customer data without explicit consent from the customers. These rules are designed to maintain the integrity and confidentiality of client information across different financial services.

In response to the penalties, MUFG issued a statement acknowledging the infractions and expressing its full acceptance of the FSA’s decision. The company also confirmed its intention to submit the required business improvement plans to the FSA to prevent future breaches and enhance its compliance protocols.