Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) posted a 1.8% fall in first-quarter net profit due to a change in the accounting period of a subsidiary in the same period a year prior, it said on Monday.
Without the accounting change, net profit rose 2.2%, as loan demand in Japan and abroad rode out market volatility over the quarter.
The results round off a robust showing for Japan’s three “megabanks”, each of which grew profits in the first quarter despite market swings and fears of a global economic slowdown.
MUFG remains on track to hit its record 2 trillion yen profit forecast for this financial year – a target set in May and that accounted for the wave of uncertainty triggered by the announcement of tariffs by U.S. president Donald Trump in April.
Japan’s largest banking group recorded a profit of 546 billion yen ($3.70 billion) in the April-June quarter, compared with 555.9 billion yen over the same period a year earlier.
Persistent inflation in Japan after decades of deflation has triggered a wave of borrowing among Japanese firms looking to invest for growth, demand for which held up despite the uncertainty.
Meanwhile the end of negative interest rates in March last year, followed by two hikes since, has finally pushed up lending margins in Japan’s long-suffering banking sector.
Last Thursday smaller rival Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group also maintained its record earnings forecast of 1.3 trillion yen, while number three player Mizuho Financial Group hiked its forecast by 15% to 1.02 trillion yen.
($1 = 147.6200 yen)
Reuters
