Finance
Japan's Biggest Bank Sets Trading Strategy for BOJ Pivot This Month
- Bank’s market head expects BOJ to end negative rates in March
- MUFG plans to build up swap receiver positions when rates rise
Kazuo Ueda
Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
One question is obsessing Tokyo’s financial markets — when will the Bank of Japan exit negative interest rates? The country’s biggest bank expects the move to come in two weeks and is positioning itself accordingly.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.’s view is much more definitive than the swap market, which rates the chances of BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda changing policy this month at about 50%. When he does change course, it will have major implications for both the 1,096 trillion yen ($7.3 trillion) government bond market and for the nation’s currency.