Major Japanese banks are moving away from seniority-based systems for setting salaries and promoting employees, with competition for talent intensifying as banks' operations diversify due to factors such as digitalization.

Banks are shifting the focus of their personnel systems from the number of years that employees worked for them to the roles that they perform. The banks are significantly expanding midcareer recruitment.

Japanese bank employees have been typically viewed as people who aim to become branch manager just after joining their banks and are seconded or transferred to other companies around the age of 50. This traditional image is collapsing.