Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. said Wednesday group net profit plummeted 49 percent in the six months ended Sept. 30 due to restructuring expense at its credit card unit and surging credit costs, reported ap. Japan's largest banking group by assets and market capital said its net profit for the fiscal first half fell to 256.72 billion yen (US$2.33 billion) from 507.27 billion yen a year ago. The fall in earnings comes amid trouble at the group's credit card unit, Mitsubishi UFJ Nicos Co., which is scheduled to become a wholly owned subsidiary next year. The unit has been hit by restructuring costs amid tighter regulations requiring consumer loan lenders to pay back excess interest they charged borrowers in the past. MUFG also said the balance of its investments in debt instruments based on risky U.S. housing loans was about 260 billion yen (US$2.36 billion) at the end of September. Appraisal losses on these investments were around 20 billion yen (US$182 million), it said. Group operating revenue rose 14 percent from the same period last year to 3.250 trillion yen (US$29.54 billion) from 2.840 trillion yen, the bank said. MUFG left unchanged its earnings outlook for the full fiscal year through March, with its group net profit forecast at 600 billion yen (US$5.45 billion) on operating revenue of 6.50 trillion yen (US$59.08 billion).
