Mitsubishi UFJ Raises Profit Target on Morgan Stanley Gain

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan’s biggest publicly traded bank, raised its full-year profit target by 50 percent as a gain from the conversion of shares in Morgan Stanley masked a lending slump.

The 900 billion yen ($11.7 billion) goal for the 12 months ending March compares with 600 billion yen predicted previously, Mitsubishi UFJ said in a statement in Tokyo yesterday. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., the bank’s closest domestic rival, boosted its profit forecast to 500 billion yen as bad loans fell. Mizuho Financial Group Inc. kept its 460 billion yen projection.