So many cons. I wish I had read this site before joining MUFG.
MUFG (formally BTMU) is going through some major 'global' restructuring: Banking and Securities have merged; financial crime is reporting now to New York; and there is a new European legal entity that the majority of EU branches feed into through Amsterdam (all public knowledge). The result however is no one knows who is responsible for what, leading to lack of ownership, making day-to-day activities very hard. And although Compliance is growing there are many redundancies being made across Europe and lots of cost cutting elsewhere like with travel and technology. So many long standing staff in Compliance have resigned. The majority of staff across all three lines of defence therefore are very new, and it is rare for an employee in Compliance or Audit to have been in London for more than 2 years. It is common to hear from permanent employees in the business, Compliance and Audit that they are doing roles that they were not hired for and therefore leaving within a year or just after bonuses. London Audit team has the highest rate of attrition compared to any other department globally at MUFG. There were around 60 staff at the beginning of 2018 and AT LEAST 3 staff have been leaving every month and emergency contractors have had to be brought in. Also promotions are not often given in the department. Salaries are not competitive compared to the wider market.
Technology is outdated. Laptops are huge, old and must be checked out for at-home working or to use on business travel but often need LAN cables to connect to the internet. Laptops also often crash or can't be switched on but are not replaced due to budgets. The Citrix operation platform is very slow. There is NO air conditioning on the Compliance floor of the London office, nor in the European offices. Over the summer period this led to one staff member passing out, and staff are often asleep during training events due to the heat. Staff must request desk top fans which don't really help.
Development feedback is based on exceptions only in London Audit - you can only provide negative comments about working with colleagues which get added up and used to prevent promotions and cap bonuses which many found out at last bonus period. This really affected the mood of the office. You can nominate staff for recognition but this has no bearing on promotions or monitory contribution. Tone from the top is lacking and management in the department are not supportive or hold things confidential. From personal experience and observation, the mood in the Audit office is unpleasant for permanent staff and the pressures placed on senior staff ripples down to the junior staff through questionable behaviour which is overlooked, hence why so many staff have been leaving. Work life balance is poor due to lack of staff and lack of suitably trained staff, so additional tasks must be picked up leading to large workloads.
I would not recommend joining MUFG London Compliance or Audit at this time.
