BTMU is the product of three bank mergers that occurred between 1996 and 2006.
Mitsubishi Bank was founded in 1880 by a former samurai, Iwasaki Yatarō, and was a core member of the Mitsubishi Group of companies. It merged with The Bank of Tokyo in 1996 to form The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Ltd. (株式会社東京三菱銀行 Kabushiki kaisha tōkyō mitsubishi ginkō?), which at that point was the world's largest bank in terms of total assets.[5] The Bank of Tokyo had historically focused on foreign exchange business since its foundation as the Yokohama Specie Bank in 1880, while Mitsubishi had had a stronger focus on domestic corporate and retail banking. Both banks were relatively healthy in the wake of the Japanese asset price bubble.[6]