• MUFG plans to integrate OpenAI's technology into a new digital lending subsidiary launching next year
• The unit will use OpenAI's technology for AI chat, account openings, and customer information queries related to some of its products.
• Banks around the world are reviewing how AI can help improve their operations, although the adoption has been limited so far.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc., Japan's largest bank, on Wednesday announced a tie-up with OpenAI as part of a broader plan to use artificial intelligence in its operations, according to a Bloomberg report.

MUFG plans to integrate OpenAI's technology into a new digital lending subsidiary launching next year. The unit will use AI chat and other tools for account openings, while also developing a system that enables users to consult ChatGPT on household finances and asset management through smartphone apps.

Banks around the world are reviewing how AI can help improve their operations, although the adoption so far has been limited to customer-facing use cases.

Spain's Banco Santander announced a collaboration with OpenAI in August, which entails embedding AI in frontline and back-office operations. Similarly, the UK's OakNorth Bank is integrating OpenAI's technologies to automate customer and internal workflows.

As part of its AI initiative, MUFG plans to recruit mid-career employees and increase the number of AI specialists within the company to more than 350 by the end of the fiscal year in March 2027, Tadashi Yamamoto, head of the retail and digital business group, told Bloomberg.

In Japan, where the financial sector employs hundreds of thousands of people, the conversation over AI and its impact on work is picking up pace, the report states.

On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment was 'bearish' for MUFG, and 'bullish' for OpenAI as of early Wednesday. 

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