Japan’s Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is ready to embark on more Asia acquisitions to fill gaps in their business, says the bank’s chief executive.
MUFG is looking to do more deals in Asia as part of its plan to strengthen its presence in the region, said chief executive Hironori Kamezawa in an interview with newswire «Reuters» on Friday.
«The first phase of our investment strategy was building footholds for commercial banking in Asia, and we are now moving into the second stage… [which] will focus on leveraging the group's commercial bank units in the region for broader services including consumer finance,» Kamezawa said.
Declining Opportunities in Japan
Like other Japanese lenders, MUFG has been eager to expand abroad due to declining opportunities in its home market, which has a rapidly aging population and low-interest rates.
The lender recently announced a $621 million deal to buy the Philippine and Indonesian units of Dutch consumer finance company Home Credit Group (HC). It has also said it plans to buy SHB Finance, a major non-bank firm in Vietnam, as well as Nomura Holdings' securities unit in Thailand, both through its Thai subsidiary Bank of Ayudhya. India is another country of focus, Kamezawa said, where MUFG had launched a $300 million fund to invest in mid to late-stage startups in the country.
