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Tokyo-M'bishi UFJ to raise time deposit rates for 1st time in 5 yrs+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)TOKYO, March 17_(Kyodo) _ The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ said Friday it will carry out interest rates hikes of double or more on one-year and longer time deposits, effective Monday. The first rate hike by the leading commercial bank since April 2001 follows the Bank of Japan's recent removal of the quantitative ultra-easy monetary policy, which has pushed up market interest rates. Other major banks are expected to follow suit. The interest rate on the 10-year deposit of 10 million yen or more, the highest among time deposit rates offered by BTMU, will rise to 0.55 percent from the current 0.25 percent. While the rate on one-year deposits will be raised to 0.06 percent from 0.03 percent, the rate on ordinary deposits will be kept unchanged at 0.001 percent, the bank said. The rate hike will not apply to foreign-currency deposits. Emerging trends toward higher interest rates among major banks may be a boon for depositors who have been long forced to live with razor-thin interest rates. Nevertheless, deposit rates remain extremely low while banks have already started to raise rates on housing loans. |