日本マスタートラスト信託銀行
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The Master Trust Bank of Japan
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This entry sits under trust-banks INDEX. Read it against Custody Bank of Japan (CBJ) for peer / contrast context and banking index for the broader system / regulatory boundary.
TL;DR
Japan’s largest asset-management-dedicated trust bank (assets under custody 770 兆円 / as of end-2025-03 ·2024 年 fiscal-year results). Established 2000-05 , a joint venture of the mufg group + a life/non-life insurance consortium (nippon-life·meiji-yasuda·norinchukin). Under the name “The Master Trust Bank of Japan (trust account),” it appears frequently at the top of the major-shareholder list in the annual securities reports of listed companies — but the actual beneficial owners are pension funds, institutional investors, and investment-trust funds, and voting-rights instructions rest with the entrusting side. Dedicated to custody + pension trust + securities management, it effectively does not handle lending or deposits. Alongside its competitor custody-bank (Custody Bank of Japan), it constitutes the 2 -pillar structure of Japan’s securities-custody infrastructure.
1. 会社概要
Official name: The Master Trust Bank of Japan, Ltd. English name: The Master Trust Bank of Japan, Ltd. Established: 2000-05 (as a trust-dedicated bank) Head office: Hamamatsucho, Minato-ku, Tokyo Business type: asset-management-specialized trust bank (custody, pension trust, securities management) Listing: unlisted (joint-venture company)
Major shareholders (public materials)
| Shareholder | Ratio |
|---|---|
| Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking (mufg 100% subsidiary) | 46.5% |
| Nippon Life Insurance (nippon-life) | 33.5% |
| Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance (meiji-yasuda) | 10.0% |
| Norinchukin Trust Bank (norinchukin group) | 10.0% |
Functional position
The Master Trust Bank of Japan (asset-management-dedicated, unlisted)
├── Custody business ── safekeeping of listed equities/bonds, nominee services, corporate actions
│ └── "The Master Trust Bank of Japan (trust account)" name ★ ── perennial top major shareholder in listed-company annual reports
├── Pension trust ── employees' pension funds, defined-benefit corporate pensions, defined-contribution pensions, etc.
├── Securities management (trust beneficial interests) ── trust accounts for investment trusts / private funds
└── Voting-rights instruction ── exercised per instructions of the entrusting party (pension funds / institutional investors / investment-trust managers)The “trust account” name signifies the separation of the nominee (custodian) from the beneficial owner. The Master Trust Bank of Japan is the “shareholder” in legal form, but voting and share trading are based on the instructions of the entrusting party (pension/GPIF / investment-trust managers / institutional investors). It is therefore a perennial entry in the “major shareholders” column of annual reports, but its independent voice over corporate management is limited.
Key chronology
| Year/month | Event |
|---|---|
| 2000-05 | The Master Trust Bank of Japan established — a joint venture of the former Mitsubishi Trust and Banking + Nippon Life + Meiji Life + Yasuda Life, etc., as an asset-management-dedicated trust |
| 2000〜2005 | Expansion of pension-trust mandates (including response to the return of the employees’-pension-fund agency portion) |
| 2005-10 | Parent-company integration accompanying the formation of mufg (Mitsubishi Trust → Mitsubishi UFJ Trust) |
| 2010-04 | Meiji Yasuda Life merger (former Meiji Life + Yasuda Life) → reorganization of shareholder composition |
| 2010 年s | Surge in entrusted assets (pension assets including GPIF, and expansion of Japanese-equity holdings via foreign investors) |
| 2020 年s | Custody DX / digitization of corporate actions / response to electronic voting |
| End of FY2024 年 (2025-03) | Assets under custody 770 兆円 (an increase of about 67 兆円 from the prior year-end, the largest scale domestically, trust-property balance of about 598.7 兆円 + assets under administrative-mandate management) |
2. Business-segment map
| Segment | Function | Customers |
|---|---|---|
| Custody (asset management) | safekeeping of equities/bonds, nominee services, corporate actions, dividend receipt, stock-split handling | domestic and overseas institutional investors, investment-trust managers, pension funds |
| Pension trust | trust mandates and management of employees’ pension funds, defined-benefit corporate pensions (DB), defined-contribution pensions (DC) | corporate pensions, public pensions (GPIF, etc.) |
| Securities-management trust | trust accounts for investment trusts / private funds / SPCs, beneficial-interest management | investment-trust managers, asset managers, institutional investors |
| Voting-rights exercise agency | voting-rights exercise based on entruster instructions, handling of advisory firms such as ISS / Glass Lewis | institutional investors |
| Trust-agency business | recording of trust beneficial interests, escrow, specified money trusts outside the standard category | corporate clients |
Industry structure — custody 2 -pillar system
Japan’s asset-management-dedicated trusts form a 2 -pillar oligopoly:
| Institution | Affiliation | Established | Major shareholders |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Master Trust Bank of Japan | mufg + insurer consortium | 2000-05 | Mitsubishi UFJ Trust 46.5% / Nippon Life 33.5% / Meiji Yasuda 10% / Norinchukin Trust 10% |
| custody-bank (Custody Bank of Japan) | sumitomo-mitsui-trust + mizuho-fg + Resona group | 2020-07 | integration of the former Japan Trustee Services Bank + Trust & Custody Services Bank |
custody-bank was formed in 2020-07 by integrating the former JTSB (Japan Trustee Services Bank) + the Trust & Custody Services Bank (TCSB) of the JTC HD group. A joint venture of Sumitomo Mitsui Trust + Mizuho Trust + Resona, etc. Alongside Master Trust, it is one of Japan’s 2 -pillar custody players.
Meaning of the “trust account” name
- Legal-form shareholder ≠ beneficial owner: the trust bank is the nominee, while actual economic ownership rests with the entrusting party (pension funds / investment trusts / institutional investors)
- Voting rights: exercised based on instructions from the entrusting party (not the trust bank’s independent judgment)
- Efficiency of centralized custody: by consolidating the shareholdings of many institutional investors into 1 trust account, settlement / dividends / corporate-action processing are concentrated
- Voting-result disclosure: the managers who are the entrusting parties (GPIF, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management, etc.) disclose their own voting results
Importance ★
- “The Master Trust Bank of Japan (trust account)” appears almost certainly near the top of the “major shareholders” column in the annual securities reports of Japanese listed companies (often the largest shareholder, especially for large-cap stocks)
- However, the substantive decision-maker on voting / share trading is the beneficial owner (pension / investment-trust manager), not the trust bank itself — analysis of the “true shareholder structure” requires decomposing the trust account
- The core of the custody / settlement infrastructure of the Japanese equity market
4. Regulation / policy
- Supervisor: Financial Services Agency (FSA) — Trust Business Act, Banking Act
- Business type: trust bank (trust-dedicated)
- Industry body: Trust Companies Association of Japan
- Related regulation:
- Trust Business Act
- Banking Act (as a trust-business-concurrent bank)
- Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (securities safekeeping)
- Stewardship Code (voting-exercise transparency)
- Recent policy topics:
- Expansion of individual disclosure of voting results (on the manager side; the trust bank follows entruster disclosure)
- Custody DX / STP (Straight-Through Processing)
- Consideration of T+1 for equity settlement
- Custody handling of crypto-assets / tokenized securities
Related
- mufg — parent-company group; the 100% subsidiary Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking is a 46.5% shareholder
- custody-bank — main competitor (Custody Bank of Japan, formed 2020-07 )
- nippon-life — major shareholder 33.5%
- meiji-yasuda — major shareholder 10%
- norinchukin — via Norinchukin Trust Bank 10%
- sumitomo-mitsui-trust · mizuho-fg — custody-bank group
Sources
- Wikipedia: 日本マスタートラスト信託銀行（https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/日本マスタートラスト信託銀行, 2026-05-19 抽出）
- 三菱 UFJ 信託銀行 開示資料（公式・関連会社開示）
- 一般社団法人 信託協会 公表資料（業界統計）
- 日本マスタートラスト信託銀行 2024 年度決算について (2025-05-21): https://www.mastertrust.co.jp/assets/pdf/financial/zm20250521.pdf — 預かり資産残高 770 兆円 (2025-03 末)、信託財産残高 598,673,237 百万円、株主構成 (三菱 UFJ 信託 46.5%)
- 日本マスタートラスト信託銀行 会社概要: https://www.mastertrust.co.jp/company/information.html — 株主出資比率 (三菱 UFJ 信託 46.5% / 日本生命 33.5% / 明治安田 10% / 農中信託 10%)
[!info] 検証状況 confidence: likely (based on public materials; shareholder ratios are stable figures). Assets under custody 770 兆円 (as of end-2025-03 ) is a confirmed figure from the company’s FY2024 年 results (published 2025-05-21). The substantive meaning of the “trust account” name (nominee vs beneficial owner) requires attention as a foundational concept of institutional-investor analysis.