MUFG, OpenAI to launch AI-powered digital bank in Japan next year

MUFG, Japan’s biggest banking group, said on Thursday it is teaming up with OpenAI to launch an AI‑powered digital bank next fiscal year, according to information shared by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. in Tokyo.

The partnership will use AI to automate account openings, customer chats, and everyday money management through smartphone apps connected to ChatGPT.

The plan is to make banking more direct, cutting out manual processes that slow things down for users in Japan’s still heavily paper‑based financial markets.

The new digital bank will allow people to consult with ChatGPT about savings, asset management, and household spending instead of calling a branch or waiting in long lines,

MUFG said this collaboration is part of its wider strategy to embed AI into everything from customer service to internal workflows.

MUFG expands AI hiring as Japan’s banks face tech overhaul

Tadashi Yamamoto, who leads the retail and digital business group at MUFG, said the company plans to grow its team of AI specialists to more than 350 employees by the end of March 2027.

To reach that goal, the bank will recruit mid‑career professionals with technical backgrounds. The company said this hiring push is a long‑term investment in building systems that can keep up with the speed of innovation in AI.

Banks across the world are facing the same challenge; how to use AI without losing the human touch or triggering mass layoffs.

In Japan, where the financial industry employs hundreds of thousands of people, the debate over automation has become especially heated. Executives from the country’s top banks are trying to reassure workers that AI won’t erase their jobs overnight.

At a Nikkei‑hosted event in Tokyo, Masahiro Kihara, CEO of Mizuho Financial Group, said people shouldn’t assume AI will replace them. “Humans have ability for dialogue, empathy, creativity and ethics,” Masahiro said, adding that workers can focus on “more value‑added work” as machines take on repetitive tasks.

Akihiko Ogino, CEO of Daiwa Securities Group, told the same audience that his managers have been instructed to use AI “as much as possible.” Akihiko said collaboration between humans and machines is the fastest way to improve decision‑making and productivity.

Kentaro Okuda, CEO of Nomura Holdings, said, “Let AI do what AI can do and humans do value‑added work,” arguing that Japan’s aging population makes that balance essential.

Kamezawa says AI will redefine MUFG’s identity

Hironori Kamezawa, CEO of MUFG, said AI is no longer just a tool, it is becoming a business partner. “We need to change ourselves to an AI native company,” Hironori said, describing how the bank is re‑wiring its systems around machine learning.

In the firm’s latest annual report, he wrote that the age of AI demands humans who can think deeply and act with intention.

Earlier this year, MUFG Bank, the main unit of the group, hired Tokyo‑based startup Sakana AI to boost the bank’s use of artificial intelligence. Ren Ito, the co‑founder and chief operating officer of Sakana AI, was appointed as an AI adviser to MUFG Bank.

The bank said it aims “to leverage the innovative technologies provided by Sakana AI to address management challenges and create high‑value‑added impacts on management.”

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