Photo/Illutration MUFG Bank President and CEO Junichi Hanzawa, middle, apologizes at a news conference in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Dec. 16. (Minako Yoshimoto)

MUFG Bank offered both an apology and explanation during a Dec. 16 news conference regarding the discovery in November that a supervisor had stolen customer assets from safe deposit boxes.

“This is a case that shakes the very foundation of the banking business, which is trust and credibility, and I sincerely apologize to the people involved,” said MUFG Bank President and CEO Junichi Hanzawa. 

The bank previously said that the damages from the two Tokyo branches stolen from total more than 1 billion yen ($6.5 million) in market value.

Hanzawa admitted there was a flaw in the management system, saying that the employee had used spare keys to open customers’ safe deposit boxes.

According to the bank and additional sources, two keys are required to open and close a safe. The customer possesses the primary key, but the bank keeps a reserve sealed with the customer's registered seal.

The former employee, using a supervisor's authority, broke the seals of spare keys and opened the safe deposit boxes without permission.

The bank said that despite employees conducting voluntary inspections of spare keys at the two branches and a group company conducting periodic inspections, they were unable to detect any abnormalities.

To prevent a recurrence, the bank said it will review the management of spare keys. Previously, individual branches were in charge of them, but the responsibility will transfer to central management at MUFG's head office. 

MUFG has already disciplined and dismissed the person in charge of safe deposit box management who worked at the affected branches.

This was the first time the bank has provided an explanation at a news conference since the incident was discovered in November.

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