MUFG and Morgan Stanley: Inside the special relationship

Cut in the teeth of the financial crisis, MUFG’s stake in Morgan Stanley might well be the best deal of the last 10 years. Much of the success is down to the strong personal relationship between the firms’ leaders.

MUFG board meetings aren’t what they once were.

“It used to be very different,” says Nobuyuki Hirano, president and group CEO of MUFG, and chairman of MUFG Bank. “Ours was a kind of ceremony. All the seats were assigned and there was very strict and tight control of the agenda and time management. The time was short: two hours.”

MUFG board meetings are one of many things that have changed as a consequence of Hirano’s close involvement with Morgan Stanley.