Japan's top bank CEOs push for AI, soothing worry over human work Japan's top financial leaders are working to ease fears that AI will cost jobs, emphasizing its role in boosting efficiency and transforming work. The heads of Japan's biggest financial firms are going out of their way to assuage worries that artificial intelligence will take away jobs. I don't think humans will lose their value. Humans have ability for dialogue, empathy, creativity and ethics," Mizuho Chief Executive Officer Masahiro Kihara said on Thursday at an event hosted by the Nikkei. People might say, 'what about my job if we use more AI?' I think they can aim for more value-added work."

A math expert who studied number theory at the University of Tokyo's graduate school, he made an impression earlier in his career by heading the bank's launch of bond options trading. Digitalization is key to streamlining operations, especially in domestic retail banking, he said. While MUFG and others saw a surge in branch traffic despite a stay-at-home plea by the government in April, Kamezawa said the bank is now seeing a jump in the use of online banking services. His two predecessors, Kanetsugu Mike and Nobuyuki Hirano, were known for their overseas backgrounds. Under them, MUFG spent about $15 billion to acquire PT Bank Danamon Indonesia and Thailand's Bank of Ayudhya, and to obtain stakes in Vietnam's Vietinbank and Security Bank Corp. of the Philippines. Asked whether the acquisition of commercial banks in the region was over, Kamezawa said: "I think so." "We have succeeded in making up for declining domestic profit through our push overseas," he said, adding that the priority now was to control steadily rising costs. MUFG's costs as a percentage of revenue remain high, standing at 70.2 percent for the year ended March, compared with 62.8 percent for rival Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. "We will recalibrate our global strategy, review growth areas and allocate resources accordingly," Kamezawa said. Since the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis, The Japan Times has been providing free access to crucial news on the impact of the novel coronavirus as well as practical information about how to cope with the pandemic. Please consider subscribing today so we can continue offering you up-to-date, in-depth news about Japan.