FILE PHOTO: A man walks past a signboard of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and MUFG Bank at its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan April 3, 2018. REUTERS/Toru Hanai/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) - Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is offering voluntary redundancy packages to 500 managing directors and directors in its London office, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.

The plan aimed to reduce costs and streamline a workforce that had too many senior managers, the source said.

The redundancy drive in London, where MUFG employs about 2,000 people, forms part of a broader restructuring of overseas operations described in April by sources at the firm.

Japan’s biggest bank by assets set a more bullish tone in November 2017, when Reuters reported it had hired more than 180 staff in the British capital that year and was set to bring on board more as it sought to expand its business in Europe.

Since then, the lender’s ambitions have been stymied by tough competition from U.S. and European banks and, particularly for bond trading, a difficult market after years of low interest rates.

The group in March announced former Barclays banker John Winter would take over as its head for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region.

Financial News first reported the redundancy drive on Thursday.