This post was originally published on this site
Economic activity in Japan recovered from a pandemic-driven slump, boosting business lending, while interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve helped lift net interest income abroad. Provisions for credit losses also stayed low.
Mitsubishi UFJ (NYSE:MUFG), Japan’s largest lender by assets, saw its October-December net profit drop 61.2% from a year earlier because of another one-off loss related to the $8 billion sale of U.S. unit MUFG Union Bank, which it said would be mostly offset by an accounting gain in the fourth quarter.
Including the expected accounting gain, Mitsubishi UFJ’s nine-month net profit totalled 1.14 trillion yen ($8.86 billion), already ahead of its full-year profit forecast of 1 trillion yen.
Mizuho’s third-quarter net profit more than doubled to 209.3 billion yen compared to the same period last year, when results at the country’s No. 3 lender were weighed down by loan loss provisions for KKR & Co (NYSE:KKR)’s auto parts supplier Marelli Holdings Co.
Japan’s second-largest bank, Sumitomo Mitsui (NYSE:SMFG) Financial Group Inc, on Monday reported a 42.6% jump in third-quarter net profit.
Despite the strong results, all three top lenders maintained their annual profit outlooks, citing recession fears in the United States and uncertainties over the war in Ukraine.
($1 = 128.6100 yen)
