Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan’s largest banking group on Tuesday unveiled higher-than-expected net profits for the year just ended, but said it expected virtually no growth this year amid continuing credit woes and a decelerating economy.

MUFG posted net profits last year of Y636.6bn ($6.1bn), which was slightly above market expectations but significantly below last year’s Y880bn, because of a rise in credit costs and losses on equity securities, amid a sharp fall in the Tokyo stock market. In the year to next March, the banking group is forecasting flat net profits of Y640bn.