Photo/Illutration The headquarters of Mizuho Financial Group Inc. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Mizuho Bank Ltd. on Feb. 18 revealed it had disciplined and fired an employee several years ago for stealing tens of millions of yen worth of money and goods from safety deposit boxes.

The disclosure came in the aftermath of a scandal involving an employee looting safety deposit boxes at another megabank, MUFG Bank Ltd.

According to Mizuho Bank, the thefts were discovered in 2019 after customers reported their valuables were missing. The bank informed the Financial Services Agency of the matter and took other action, including refunding the customers.

“We did not immediately disclose the incident in consideration of the relationship with our customers and other factors,” a representative of Mizuho Bank said.

To prevent a recurrence, Mizuho Bank tightened its system of storing spare keys.

“Since then, there have been no misconduct cases related to safety deposit boxes,” a bank official said.

In November 2024, MUFG Bank revealed that a deputy branch manager had stolen money and valuables worth more than 1 billion yen ($6.6 million) from safety deposit boxes belonging to dozens of customers.

The manager was dismissed and later arrested by Tokyo police in January.

At that time, FSA said there had been two similar cases, but the agency did not reveal the names of the banks.

One of the two cases occurred at Hanashinyoukumiai, a Tokyo-based credit union.

In February 2024, the credit union revealed that a deputy director had stolen cash from safety deposit boxes by illegally duplicating keys.

In January this year, Mizuho Bank stopped accepting new customers for safety deposit box services at its branches nationwide, in principle.

The bank said it will continue to provide safety deposit box services to existing customers but will not offer safety deposit boxes at newly constructed branches.

(This article was written by Shuhei Shibata and Toshiki Horigome.)

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