MUFG mulls Asian focus on investment banking

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan's largest bank by assets, is looking to shift its traditional commercial banking business model in Asia to becoming more investment bank-driven. This comes at a time when many US and European banks are looking to shrink their operations.

Deputy president Tatsuo Tanaka, who oversees MUFG's global business, said yesterday that after acquiring a stake in Morgan Stanley, MUFG had become more investment-bank driven and wanted to bring its experiences to bear in Asia.

'We have a very strong footprint in traditional banking. We now want to shift some of our experience in investment banking in the US to Asia, and operate under a more commercial-investment bank operating model,' Tanaka said.

MUFG was one of the most active Japanese lenders to expand overseas during the financial crisis. It bought out UnionBanCal in the US in 2008. It also has held just over 20 per cent of Morgan Stanley since the crisis.

Tanaka said that while MUFG was strengthening its investment banking business at a time when US and European banks were pruning their operations, they might still share the same goal - operating under a commercial-investment bank model.

Plagued by the euro-zone crisis and stricter liquidity and capital requirements, many European banks are under pressure to shrink their balance sheets and sell assets.