Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) has begun deploying ChatGPT Enterprise at Mitsubishi UFJ Bank as part of a broader effort with OpenAI to modernize operations and create new customer experiences. The phased rollout, which started in early 2026, makes the service available to roughly 35,000 bank employees.
Timeline and scope
MUFG started partnering with OpenAI in October 2024 to accelerate the use of generative AI for operational modernization and efficiency improvements. The bank began a phased implementation of ChatGPT Enterprise in 2026 so that about 35,000 staff could access the tool in their day-to-day work as MUFG pursues an AI-native strategy.
Strategic purpose
MUFG frames AI not merely as a productivity tool but as a means to extend human thinking and creativity, enabling employees and AI to learn together while building better financial services. The group is creating the technical systems, environments and organizational culture required to make AI part of everyday work, combining top-down leadership commitment with bottom-up enablement for staff.
Tadashi Yamamoto, Group CDTO at MUFG, stated that AI will fundamentally change finance and emphasized the importance of an environment and culture where every employee can use AI naturally.
Security and governance
A major factor in choosing ChatGPT Enterprise was enterprise-grade security and broad applicability. Many employees were already familiar with ChatGPT, and the enterprise offering provided the security and governance controls necessary for a financial institution. OpenAI worked with MUFG to address security requirements through product proposals and updates to remove barriers that could have slowed the rollout.
Training, adoption and organizational change
MUFG recognized that access alone would not drive impact. Employees needed to learn when and how to use the tool, integrate it into workflows, and be confident about permitted uses. OpenAI supported the rollout with enterprise usage guidance, operational planning, product education, company-wide training programs, custom GPT workshops and executive study sessions. MUFG made e-learning mandatory — employees had to complete training before using ChatGPT Enterprise.
MUFG also appointed AI champions in each department to encourage experimentation and expansion of use cases from within business units rather than relying solely on a central team.
According to Kohei Shimano, Managing Director and Head of the Artificial Intelligence and Solutions Department at Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, the main barrier was organizational — employees did not know how to use the technology or what they were allowed to use it for — and the training provided by OpenAI created a positive cycle of increasing adoption.
Practical uses inside the bank: “AI bankers”
Employees across the bank have developed many custom GPTs, internally called “AI bankers,” tailored to departmental workflows. These tools help automate time-consuming tasks and make expertise that once depended on specific individuals more broadly accessible.
Sayuri Yonese, Vice President of the Artificial Intelligence and Solutions Department at Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, describes AI bankers as supporters that allow employees to focus on higher-value work and activities that improve outcomes for customers. MUFG stresses that the value of AI is not merely to reduce workload but to reinvest saved time into customer visits, stronger proposals and human-led decisions and approvals.
Customer-facing initiatives
Beyond internal transformation, MUFG and OpenAI are exploring ways AI can change how customers discover services, request advice and take action. Examples include:
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Moneytree: Through Apps in ChatGPT, users will be able to ask natural-language questions within ChatGPT and view account balances and transaction details; follow-up prompts can organize and present relevant information conversationally. (Interface and functionality shown are illustrative and subject to change.)
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WealthNavi: The robo-advisory service is establishing a dedicated AI organization and advancing collaboration with OpenAI to accelerate its automated asset management capabilities.
MUFG plans to use OpenAI technology in the digital bank at the center of its emutt integrated financial services brand. Planned features include an AI concierge for conversational finance and MAP (Money Advisory Platform), a comprehensive advisory system designed to deliver personalized recommendations matched to each customer’s life stage.
Vision for the future
MUFG aims to move beyond traditional app- and branch-centered experiences toward a future where customers can move naturally from guidance to transactions through everyday interactions with AI. Yamamoto said the goal is to provide financial services around the clock and deliver personalized recommendations that only AI can enable. Early signs — internal custom GPTs, mandatory training and shifting conversations from "Can we use AI?" to "How should we use it?" — suggest MUFG is progressing toward an AI-native banking model.
