The head of one of Japan’s largest banks, Kentaro Okuda, has taken a move that is, in this part of the world, quite incomprehensible, and announced a 30 percent pay cut for himself and other managers at the company.
The move by the Nomura bank chief comes after an incident in which a former employee was accused of robbing and attempting to murder a client. After that, Okuda said that he would receive a 30 percent pay cut for the next three months, and similar cuts are expected for other high-ranking managers at the bank.
“The decision was made after one of the bank’s former wealth management officers was charged with attempted murder, robbery and arson. The employee allegedly drugged an elderly client and their spouse in Hiroshima before stealing cash and setting fire to the house. The employee, who is 29 years old and worked in its securities department, was fired in August,” the bank said.
Okuda and the three executives also held a press conference today and formally apologized to the public for the incident.
“We would like to deeply apologize to the victims, as well as the many other people involved, for the great inconvenience and concern caused by this incident. We are truly sorry,” Okuda said.
Nomura is Japan’s largest investment bank with 26,000 employees worldwide, with offices in Tokyo, London and New York.
The company has now pledged to change the way it operates in the wake of the incident, including early detection of misconduct and strengthening supervision and approval of visits to clients’ homes.
“For the foreseeable future, a manager will monitor employees when they visit clients’ homes or speak to clients on the phone at approximately the time of each visit,” the bank said.
Photo: Kyodo News
