TOKYO (AFP) — Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. (MUFJ) incurred some 468 million dollars in losses related to the US subprime mortgage crisis as of the end of last year, a report said Wednesday.
The news came hours after US banking colossus Citigroup announced that it saw a quarterly loss of 9.83 billion dollars mainly stemming from the crisis, sending a fresh wave of worries to global investors.
MUFJ, the world's largest banking group by assets, declined to comment on the report by Kyodo News, which cited unnamed sources.
"We are not yet publicly announcing the subprime loan-related figures," said a company spokesman.
The group in October, however, warned of a profit slump due to weak income, losses on subprime loans and problems at its credit card subsidiary.
MUFJ said in October the US subprime loan crisis had wiped 5.0 billion yen (47 million dollars) off its first-half-to-September profits while the value of its securities backed by subprime loans in the US had dropped by 20 billion yen.
The bank, formed in October 2005 through the merger of Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group and UFJ Holdings, said in October it still had about 260 billion yen in subprime related investments.
Meanwhile, the banking group said its core entity, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, will promote its vice president Katsunori Nagayasu to its next president in a bid to freshen up its leadership.
Nagayasu, 60, will replace Nobuo Kuroyanagi, 66, effective April 1, the bank said.
But Kuroyanagi will remain as the president of the holding company Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group.
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