MUFG Bank

Is MUFG safe?

For a depositor, yes. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan's largest banking group, had a CET1CET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary capital ratio of 12.95% at 30 June 2026 against a requirement of 8.68%, and its liquidity coverage ratioLiquidity coverage ratioA bank's cash and easy-to-sell assets compared with the money that could flow out in a 30-day crisis. It must be at least 100%.More in the glossary stayed above 140% through the last financial year. Yen deposits at MUFG Bank, Ltd. are insured by the Deposit InsuranceDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary Corporation of Japan up to ¥10 million per depositor. We score it 78/100, level with Commonwealth Bank and two points below DBS. What holds it back is conduct: the Financial Services Agency (FSA) issued business improvement orders in 2024, and the same year the bank discovered that a branch employee had been emptying customers' safe deposit boxes for four years.

Which MUFG company holds your money

Most retail customers in Japan bank with MUFG Bank, Ltd. (三菱UFJ銀行), the group's commercial bank. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking is a separate bank with its own deposit insuranceDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary limit, and the brokerage arms are not banks at all. A third bank is on the way: on 24 September 2026 MUFG Emut Bank, Ltd., wholly owned by MUFG Bank, received a banking licence, and it plans to open to customers between January and March 2027 under the Emut Bank name. As a separate bank it will carry its own ¥10 million deposit insurance limit. Outside Japan, MUFG Bank mainly serves companies. Its Thai bank Krungsri, its Indonesian bank Danamon and other local subsidiaries are covered by their own countries' deposit schemes. MUFG Union Bank in California no longer belongs to the group: it was sold to U.S. Bancorp in December 2022.

What Japan's deposit insurance covers

Japan's scheme protects ordinary and time deposits up to ¥10 million of principal, plus interest, per depositor at each bank. That is less generous than the $250,000 FDICDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary limit at JPMorgan Chase, but it has one feature most schemes lack: settlement deposits, which pay no interest and can be withdrawn on demand, are covered in full with no cap. A business or saver who wants unlimited protection can hold money in such an account.

The gaps are worth knowing:

• Foreign currency deposits are not insured. Dollar savings accounts at MUFG Bank depend on the bank alone.
• Investment products are not deposits. Investment trusts, bonds and insurance sold at MUFG branches are outside the scheme.
• Safe deposit boxes are not deposits. Their contents are covered only by the bank's own liability and any insurance you buy.

MUFG is on the Financial Stability Board's list of global systemically important banksG-SIBA global systemically important bank: one of the large banks the Financial Stability Board lists each year because its failure could harm the world economy.More in the glossary, in bucket 2, which brings a 1.5% capital surcharge and closer supervision.

Capital and liquidity

Measure	MUFG group
CET1 ratioCET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary (30 June 2026)	12.95%
CET1 requirement including buffers	8.68%
Leverage ratioLeverage ratioA bank's Tier 1 capital divided by its total exposures, without adjusting for risk. It is a simple backstop to risk-based capital rules.More in the glossary (31 March 2026)	4.94% vs 3.95% required
Liquidity coverage ratioLiquidity coverage ratioA bank's cash and easy-to-sell assets compared with the money that could flow out in a 30-day crisis. It must be at least 100%.More in the glossary (quarter to March 2026)	146.5%
Deposits (31 March 2026)	¥260.8 trillion
MUFG Bank ratings (Moody's / S&P / Fitch)	A1 / A / A

The capital buffer of more than four points is comfortable. The ratings are a notch or two below those of the big Canadian or Singapore banks, mainly because rating agencies rarely rate a Japanese bank above Japan itself. The 20-F shows that about ¥175 trillion of deposits are uninsured, roughly two thirds of the total, because so much of the money comes from companies and overseas offices. Those large balances could move faster in a crisis than household savings, which is one reason we keep liquidity below the top band despite the high coverage ratio.

The 2024 orders and the safe deposit box thefts

In June 2024 the FSA issued business improvement orders to MUFG Bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities and the group's other securities firm, after the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission found that the bank had shared customers' confidential information with the brokers and solicited business in breach of Japan's firewall rules. MUFG submitted improvement plans in July 2024.

Months later, MUFG Bank disclosed that a front-line employee at its Nerima and Tamagawa branches in Tokyo had stolen cash, gold and other valuables from the safe deposit boxes of about 60 customers between April 2020 and October 2024. In January 2025 it put the losses at about ¥1.4 billion, said it had already compensated 40 cases, and admitted that its box management rules and checks had failed. The FSA ordered a report, and the bank cut executives' pay.

Older penalties came from New York. The state's financial regulator fined the bank, then called Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, $250 million in 2013 over payments for Iranian and other sanctioned parties, and another $315 million in 2014 for pressuring a consultant to soften a report to regulators.

Who should be careful

1. Keep yen deposits at MUFG Bank within ¥10 million if you want them all insured, or use a non-interest settlement account for larger sums.
2. Treat foreign currency accounts and investment products as uninsured.
3. If you keep valuables in a safe deposit box, photograph and list the contents and consider insurance, since the box is not covered by the deposit scheme.
4. Turn on app-based authentication and transfer limits for online banking.

How we scored it

Capital (80), liquidity (84) and deposit protectionDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary (84) are solid: a wide CET1CET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary buffer, a high coverage ratio and a scheme that fully covers settlement accounts. Conduct (62) is the weakest factor, reflecting the 2024 FSA orders and the safe deposit box thefts. Stability history (84) reflects a clean record since 2008, though parts of the group needed public capital in the 1990s.