Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (Nihonbashi branch)

was a Japanese

foreign exchange The foreign exchange market (Forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. It includes all as ...

bank that operated from 1946 to 1996. In January 1996, it merged with

Mitsubishi Bank was a major Japanese bank that served as the main bank for the Mitsubishi conglomerate/''keiretsu''. It merged with The Bank of Tokyo in 1996 to form The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (now MUFG Bank). The bank's operations date to 1880, when Mitsubi ...

to form The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (now

MUFG Bank is the largest bank in Japan. It was established on January 1, 2006, following the merger of the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd. and UFJ Bank Ltd. MUFG is one of the three so-called Japanese "megabanks" (along with SMBC and Mizuho). As such, ...

). Its headquarters was in the

Nihonbashi is a business district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan which grew up around the bridge of the same name which has linked two sides of the Nihonbashi River at this site since the 17th century. The first wooden bridge was completed in 1603. The current ...

district of Tokyo, adjacent to the

Bank of Japan The is the central bank of Japan.Louis Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric. (2005). "Nihon Ginkō" in The bank is often called for short. It has its headquarters in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. History Like most modern Japanese instituti ...

. BOT was the successor to the

Yokohama Specie Bank was a Japanese bank founded in Yokohama, Japan in the year 1880. Its assets were transferred to The Bank of Tokyo (now MUFG Bank) in 1946. The bank played a significant role in Japanese overseas trade, especially with China. The original b ...

, a state-chartered foreign exchange bank, and initially operated as an ordinary bank using the YSB's assets. In 1954 it became registered as a specialized foreign exchange bank, and closed all of its business unrelated to foreign trade. BOT became a close partner of the

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and Ec ...

and the

Japan Bank for International Cooperation The , JBIC, is a Japanese public financial institution and export credit agency that was created on October 1, 1999, through the merger of the Japan Export-Import Bank (JEXIM) and the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF). JBIC became the in ...

in directing Japan's foreign trade policy during the postwar era. BOT had major operations in New York and London, and developed an early system to settle payments between Japanese yen and

Chinese yuan The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 202 ...

during a time when direct foreign exchange was not possible. Due to the peculiarly international nature of its business, BOT was the only Japanese bank that employed more foreigners than Japanese, and it had large overseas operations and a large number of non-Japanese customers. BOT was particularly active in California from around 1953. It acquired a controlling stake in San Diego-based Southern California First National Bank in 1975 and later renamed it California First Bank. In 1988, California First acquired Union Bancorp to form Union Bank (now

MUFG Union Bank MUFG Union Bank (stylized as UnionBank), is a nationally chartered full-service bank with 398 branches in California, Washington and Oregon which was wholly owned by MUFG Americas Holdings and has been acquired by U.S. Bancorp. Formerly known ...

), one of the largest banks in California. BOT historically operated the foreign exchange counters at Japan's international airports, including

Haneda Airport , officially , and sometimes called as Tokyo Haneda Airport or Haneda International Airport , is one of two international airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area, the other one being Narita International Airport (NRT). It serves as the primary ...

and

Narita International Airport Narita International Airport ( ja, 成田国際空港, Narita Kokusai Kūkō) , also known as Tokyo-Narita, formerly and originally known as , is one of two international airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area, the other one being Haneda Airport ...

, which remain under operation by its successor BTMU. Like the

Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan , abbreviated LTCB in English and in Japanese, was founded in 1952 under the direction of the Shigeru Yoshida government to provide long-term financing to various industries in Japan. Along with the Industrial Bank of Japan and the Nippon Kang ...

Nippon Credit Bank is a Japanese commercial bank that offers service in 19 branches in Japan and in 2 overseas representative offices (as of July 2012). History Aozora Bank is the successor of the Nippon Credit Bank (NCB), which was founded in 1957 as the Nippon ...

and

Norinchukin Bank The is a Japanese cooperative bank serving over 5,612 agricultural, fishing and forestry cooperatives from its headquarters in Tokyo. The bank is one of Japan's largest institutional investors with an investment portfolio of more than US$400 bill ...

, BOT was permitted to issue special bonds to obtain yen funding; BTM continued this program for several years after the Tokyo-Mitsubishi merger. The "BOT" abbreviation is still used by BOT Lease, a

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is a Japanese bank holding and financial services company headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. MUFG holds assets of around US$3.1 trillion as of 2016 and is one of the "Three Great Houses" of the Mitsubishi Group alongside Mitsubishi Corpor ...

leasing company established by BOT in 1979.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bank of Tokyo Defunct banks of Japan Financial services companies based in Tokyo Banks established in 1946 Banks disestablished in 1996 Companies formerly listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Japanese companies disestablished in 1996 Japanese companies established in 1946