TOKYO, JAPAN - Japan's biggest bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) plans to boost its capital by some one trillion yen ($15 billion) through public offerings of common stock, news reports said Saturday.

The banking group plans to carry out the capital increase by the end of December, the Nikkei business daily and other media said.

If realised, this would be the largest capital boost by common stock in Japan, Nikkei said, adding that this was in response to global regulatory pushes for improved capital bases at banks.

MUFG plans for offerings of as many as 2.5 billion shares, which will be valued at 1.27 trillion yen based on the bank's closing price of 508 yen Friday, the newspaper said.

MUFG implemented an 800 billion yen capital increase by offering common stock and preferred shares from December of last year to January as part of its effort to survive the global financial crisis. --AFP