Mitsubishi Tokyo to advance UFJ tieup

Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc. will advance the schedule for forming a tieup with UFJ Holdings Inc. in sales of financial products to individual customers and in overseas operations, Mitsubishi Tokyo President Nobuo Kuroyanagi said Monday.

MTFG, scheduled to merge with struggling UFJ in October 2005, wants to accelerate the planned management integration by achieving tieups in as many business fields as possible by the end of the year, with a view to maximizing the benefits of the merger, MTFG officials said.

"We want to bring forward the schedule for tying up as much as possible in sales of investment trust and insurance products as well as in overseas business," Kuroyanagi said in an interview.

Specifically, MTFG would enable UFJ Bank, a core unit of the UFJ group, to sell Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi products such as annuity insurance policies for individuals or investment trusts, the officials said.

MTFG also wants to integrate its 81 overseas footholds and UFJ's 26 offshore operational bases to streamline their operations, the officials said.

MTFG will decide the merger ratio next spring after assessing the quality of UFJ's assets and earnings data for fiscal 2004, Kuroyanagi said.

Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., which has expressed interest in taking over UFJ, proposed a merger on an equal footing in late August, based on a one-to-one stock ratio, following its earlier merger offer.

Despite Sumitomo Mitsui's rival takeover offer, MTFG and UFJ signed a basic merger accord in mid-August in a deal that would create the world's largest banking group with total assets of 190 trillion yen.

Millea Holdings Inc. and Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc. said Monday they have agreed to jointly develop annuity products for individuals.

The new products come in three types -- high risk and high return, low risk and low return, and medium risk and medium return -- under the name of "As You Like," the two companies said.

Policyholders will be allowed to change their plans even after signing contracts, they said.

The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, a core unit of the Mitsubishi Tokyo group, will start selling the products at its head office and some of its branches Sept. 21, and will expand sales across the entire network Nov. 1.

Millea Holdings was created in 2002 as a holding company for Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance Co. and Nichido Fire & Marine Insurance Co.