Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Names Two Women to Top Executive Ranks
May 16 2016 - 12:20AM
Dow Jones News
TOKYO—For the first time, Japan's largest bank has named women
to its top executive ranks.
The board of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. decided Monday
to appoint two women as executive officers at its core banking
unit, people briefed on the decision said. Suk Fun Ngan, co-general
manager of the Hong Kong branch, and Ranjana Clark, the San
Francisco-based head of transaction banking for MUFG's American
unit, were named.
The bank, Japan's largest by assets, had stood out as one of the
laggards in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to promote more women
to positions of responsibility, maintaining an all-male lineup of
about 90 executive officers. Rivals Mizuho Financial Group Inc. and
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. both promoted women to the
executive-officer level within the past few years.
MUFG still doesn't have any Japanese women in its top ranks.
Ms. Ngan has worked at the bank for more than 30 years, while
Ms. Clark joined California-based Union Bank, an MUFG subsidiary,
in 2013. Before joining the Japanese bank, Ms. Clark held executive
posts at PayPal and Western Union Co.
Many Japanese companies have been adding women to their
executive ranks and boards in response to Mr. Abe's push, although
the overall figures still lag behind the U.S. and Europe. A ranking
last year by consultancy Grant Thornton listed Japan last among 34
major nations with women holding only 8% of business leadership
roles, compared with 21% in the U.S. and 14% in Germany.
Promoting women is a particularly slow process in the domestic
operations of Japanese banks because they almost never hire from
the outside and executives must climb the ladder step by step. MUFG
has just one Japanese woman at the level of executive director, one
step below executive officer.
The situation is different in MUFG's overseas operations, where
the bank has ramped up promotions of non-Japanese bankers to senior
management positions and recruited experienced executives such as
Ms. Clark from Western financial institutions. Last year, it
appointed Stephen Cummings, a former UBS Group AG executive, as the
chief executive officer of MUFG Union Bank, the banking unit of
MUFG America. Previously Japanese executives had held the CEO post
in the U.S.
On Monday, New York-based general counsel Michael Coyne was
named an executive officer, people briefed on the decision said.
Previously, Mr. Coyne was J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.'s co-head of
litigation. After Monday's appointments, about 10% of the top
executives at MUFG are non-Japanese.
Write to Atsuko Fukase at atsuko.fukase@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 16, 2016 00:05 ET (04:05 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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