Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Names Two Women to Top Executive Ranks

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 [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 16, 2016 00:05 ET (04:05 GMT)

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