All 3 Suruga Bank Representative Directors to Quit over Loan Scandals

August 30, 2018

Tokyo- Suruga Bank President Akihiro Yoneyama, 52, is set to resign to take responsibility for document tampering and other irregularities at the regional bank over real estate investment loans, including for share houses, informed sources said Wednesday.

Toshihiko Shirai, 64, senior managing director of the lender based in the city of Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan, will also step down over the scandals, the sources said.

It has already been reported that Suruga Bank Chairman Mitsuyoshi Okano, 73, a member of the founding family of the bank, will leave the post.

The scandals will thus lead to the resignation of all three board directors with the right to represent the bank.

A third-party panel of lawyers established by Suruga Bank is slated to release within this week an report on its investigation into the scandals.

The Financial Services Agency is considering slapping the bank with tough administrative penalties, including an order for the suspension of part of its operations.

With the resignation of Okano, Yoneyama and Shirai, the scandal-tainted bank aims to step up efforts to overhaul its management system and regain trust, the sources said.

The bank is expected to decide the timing of the three representative directors' resignation after the release of the independent panel's report and the announcement of the FSA's action against the lender, the sources said.

Yoneyama, the first Suruga Bank president from outside the founding family, assumed the post in June 2016. Shirai has been serving as senior managing director since April 2012 and is in charge of management planning. Jiji Press