UFJ Bank, the core unit of UFJ Holdings Inc., said Wednesday it has appointed former Supreme Court Justice Yukinobu Ozaki as chief of its new supervisory committee.
Ozaki's appointment, which will formally take effect later this month, marks the first time a major Japanese bank has given someone in the legal community the authority to supervise top management.
The 75-year-old working lawyer also assumed the post of the bank's outside director on Wednesday, the bank said.
UFJ Bank is seeking to re-establish its credibility with depositors and borrowers. On Thursday, a criminal complaint was filed by the Financial Services Agency with the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office over the bank's alleged obstruction last fall of an audit, a violation of the Banking Law.
The supervisory committee, which will be independent of the bank's top managers, will be tasked with reporting to the FSA the state of UFJ's compliance with laws and banking regulations.
Public accountant Teruo Ozaki, 59, and lawyer Shin Ushijima, 55, will also be on the committee, the bank said. Teruo Ozaki assumed the post of an outside director on Wednesday.
The committee will be tasked with reporting irregularities related to an in-house audit of books, risk management and compliance with banking regulations to the FSA and the board of directors. Last Friday, public prosecutors raided UFJ Bank's Tokyo headquarters and the homes of some former executives.