Bank of Tokyo (redirected from The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ)

Bank of Tokyo 

a specialized Japanese bank for international transactions; engaged in foreign exchange transactions.

The Bank of Tokyo was founded in December 1946 as a private commercial bank based on the semigovernmental foreign exchange Yokohama Specie Bank, which had existed from 1880 to 1946 (an eminent shareholder in the bank was Emperor Hirohito). During World War II (1939–45) the Yokohama Specie Bank participated in the issue of occupation yen in the territories seized by Japan.

Since 1946 the Bank of Tokyo has functioned as a commercial bank, but it has gradually shifted to the financing of foreign trade, promotion of the export of capital from Japan, and currency transactions. In 1954 the Bank of Tokyo was changed by law into the only specialized foreign exchange bank in the country. It became the financial agent of the government in international transactions and actively furthered the transformation of Japan into a creditor nation.

The Bank of Tokyo is closely related to the central issue Bank of Japan, and it has correspondent relations with most important foreign banks. In 1968 the Bank of Tokyo had 33 branches in Japan, 34 branches and 18 representatives abroad, subsidiary banks in the USA, France, and Brazil, and shares in the joint Japan-Iran Bank. On. Mar. 31, 1969, the Bank of Tokyo had a balance of 2.096 trillion yen ($5.8 billion), a balance of investments of 706 billion yen, acceptances of 522 billion yen, discounts and loans of 706 billion yen, and accounts in foreign currency totaling 600 billion yen.