Japan's largest lender MUFG posts 6.3% fall in H1 net profit

[TOKYO] Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) reported on Wednesday a 6.3 per cent drop in net profit for the six months through September, as its profit in the same period of last year was buoyed by the release of bad loan provisions.

Japan's largest lender by assets, which owns 24 per cent of Wall Street bank Morgan Stanley, said net profit was ¥609.9 billion (S$7.61 billion) in April-September, compared to ¥650.7 billion a year earlier.

MUFG maintained its profit forecast for the year to March-end at 900 billion yen, below the ¥930 billion average of 13 analyst estimates, according to Refinitiv data.

Its net operating profit, however, rose 11.1 per cent due primarily to increase in trading profit. 

REUTERS