Shikoku Bank’s leadership has come up with a bizarre way of reassuring clients of its commitment – promising to pay with their lives if found guilty of ‘financial irregularities’.

Banking executives are always held to high ethical standards, considering that they handle the wealth of thousands, sometimes millions of people, but while they face serious punishment in case of fraud or embezzlement, they aren’t quite expected to pay with their lives. That is not the case with the management of Shikoku Bank, a financial institution whose top 23 executives, including President Miura, signed a blood oath requiring them to commit seppuku if found guilty of engaging in financial irregularities, embezzlement or other fraudulent activities. Rooted in the code of honor of Japan’s samurai era, the bizarre pledge posted on Shikoku Bank’s website went viral sparking reactions varying from admiration to disbelief.

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“Anyone employed by this bank who has stolen money or caused others to steal from the bank will pay for it with his or her own property and then commit suicide,” an announcement on the Shikoku Bank’s website states. “This pledge is part of a document signed and stamped in blood by all 23 employees, including President Miura, of the Thirty-seventh National Bank, the predecessor of Shikoku Bank, to ensure the proper handling of finances.”

Seppuku is a type of ritual suicide that allowed samurai to uphold their honor after failing their lord. Employees of Shinkoku Bank’s predecessor, the Thirty-Seventh National Bank, signed a similar pledge since its founding in 1878.

The bizarre pledge drew comparisons between Japanese and American bank executives, with the latter known to take almost no responsibility for mishandling clients’ finances.