Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group Inc. announced Wednesday its group net profit fell 43.1 percent in the fiscal first half from a year earlier to 171.7 billion yen, while merger partner UFJ Holdings said separately its group net loss was 674.3 billion yen for the six months to September.

Both blamed efforts to speed up writing off nonperforming loans for a drop in earnings.

UFJ Holdings Inc.'s figure is a reversal from a 179.8 billion yen group net profit a year earlier. MTFG's merger partner said the drop was due to pressure to dispose of its bad loans before the merger planned for next October.