TOKYO, Feb 3 – The Bank of Japan on Tuesday pledged to spend $11bn to buy shares held by Japanese banks to ease the pain from the global financial crisis, reviving a scheme launched earlier this decade to head off a domestic banking crisis.

The move came as a Japanese newspaper report said Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan’s biggest bank, would post a loss for April to December and slash its annual forecasts, reflecting both stock losses and a rise in bad debts.