The Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group headquarters.

Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

Japan’s largest bank will rebuild its 40-year-old headquarters in Tokyo’s financial district as the lender prepares for a post-Covid world that will also see some compliance roles shift to India.

The new building will “significantly reduce” facility expenses for the financial group by bringing together about 19,000 workers who are currently located in nine different locations across the downtown area of the Japanese capital, said Junichi Hanzawa, chief executive officer at MUFG Bank Ltd., a core unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.

Junichi Hanzawa

Photographer: Toru Hanai/Bloomberg

Plans for the knock-down and rebuild will include considerations around corporate life after the pandemic, that may see staff working more from home or at satellite offices, he said. Currently, only about 40-50% of its people are working at the 24-story building that was constructed in 1980 and Hanzawa doesn’t see a full return of staff even after mass vaccinations, he added.

“We will design the new headquarters with these new changes in mind,” he said in an interview, adding that the bank plans to complete detailed designs by end of March 2023.