MUFG Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc

TOKYO—Japan's largest bank is preparing to name an executive with long domestic experience to its top job, tapping an insider with deep Tokyo contacts to run an institution that is looking overseas for profits.

The management of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. plans to nominate 60-year-old Takashi Oyamada as the next president and chief executive of its core banking unit, a person familiar with the matter said Wednesday. The appointment, subject to approval by a committee that includes independent directors, would take effect in April, the person said.

The bank is No. 1 in Japan by assets and market capitalization. It owns slightly more than 20% of U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley and earns about 20% of its profit from international business.

Leaders of the bank traditionally serve for four years. The current president and CEO, Nobuyuki Hirano, took the helm in April 2012. He is expected to stay on as president of the parent group for an additional year or so beyond April 2016 before stepping aside from that post as well.

Mr. Hirano, 64, spent much of his early career in Europe and New York, and he has been accustomed to speak one-on-one in English on the phone with Morgan Stanley Chief Executive James Gorman.

By contrast, Mr. Oyamada built his career in domestic roles, although he did study briefly at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Acquaintances say he understands English but isn't comfortable speaking it in business situations. A University of Tokyo graduate who joined what was then known as Mitsubishi Bank in 1979, Mr. Oyamada has built a strong network among government officials and financial regulators.

A bank spokesman declined to make Mr. Oyamada available for comment.

To offset weak loan demand at home, Japanese banks are gearing up for more overseas lending, despite concerns about a possible slowdown in emerging markets.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group has taken advantage of its solid financial footing to expand in the U.S., acquiring small and midsize lenders through Union Bank, which the Tokyo bank made a wholly owned unit in 2008. In 2012, Union Bank acquired a California lender, Pacific Capital Bancorp, for $1.5 billion.

"We've been saying that our goal is to become a top-10 lender in the U.S.," said Mr. Hirano in a September interview. "I think we need a scale-up of size because our revenue isn't sufficient to cover the rising cost of complying with legal and regulatory frameworks."

In the year ended March 2015, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group became the second Japanese company after Toyota Motor Corp. to post a net profit of more than ¥ 1 trillion ($8.3 billion), boosted by strong performance in its overseas operations. By the bank's tally, as of September 2014, it was the world's eighth-largest bank by deposits, trailing four Chinese banks as well as Bank of America Corp., HSBC Holdings PLC and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.

Write to Atsuko Fukase at atsuko.fukase@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 09, 2015 08:15 ET (13:15 GMT)

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