Yokohama Specie Bank (forerunner of the Bank of Tokyo) head office.
(Source: Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History)
Yokohama Specie Bank's first sales department.
(Source: Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History)
The Yokohama Specie Bank opened for business in Japan and New York in 1880 before setting up another office in London in 1881, securing an international foothold that has become the basis for MUFG Bank's current global presence. The bank was named after the specie, a silver coin used as an international currency for settling payments among traders.
The Yokohama Specie Bank actively participated in currency exchange and trade financing businesses in Asia. Already, by the second decade of the twentieth century, it had established a network of representative offices in almost all the major trading centers in the Pacific region and the world's financial capitals.