Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan's largest bank in terms of assets, saw a 48 per cent rise in net profit for the nine months to December, helped mostly by a one-off gain from its stake in US bank Morgan Stanley. 

Net profit for April to December figured at ¥815.8 billion ($10.7 billion), from ¥551.8 billion in the year-earlier period. The company booked a one-time gain of ¥290 billion after deciding to convert its preferred shares in Morgan Stanley in October last year. The bank was given a 22.4 per cent stake in the Wall Street firm in exchange for a $9 billion lifeline at the height of the 2008 global financial crisis. To-date, Mitsubishi UFJ records ¥11.2 trillion in total net assets. 

Given the positive environment and its relatively low exposure to the European debt crisis, the company maintained its group net profit for the fiscal year to March at ¥900 billion. 

The results came shortly after the MUFG appointed deputy president Nobuyuki Hirano as the new president of The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, its core banking unit, effective 1 April. Hirano was a key negotiator at the 2008 Morgan Stanley stake sale and has spent around 13 years at the parent firm. He replaces Katsunori Nagayasu, who will move up as the bank's chairman and but will stay as president of MUFG.