OREANDA-NEWS. March 16, 2015. Fitch Ratings has assigned 'A/F1' Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) to Mitsubishi UFJ Securities (USA), Inc. (MUS USA). The Rating Outlook is Stable. MUS USA is a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG).

A full list of ratings follows at the end of this release.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

Fitch considers MUS USA to be a core subsidiary, due in part to its importance to MUFG's overall strategy, and thus the ratings are equalized and linked with the other core subsidiaries: Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) and MUFG Americas Holding Corporation, at 'A/F1'. MUS USA provides MUFG's U.S. and international customers access to U.S. capital markets through debt and equity capital raising, and market making.

MUFG desires to continue to grow internationally, including in the U.S., to both diversify and improve revenues for the entire group. To that end, Fitch believes there is a high level of management and operational integration between MUS USA, MUFG and other core subsidiaries. Because MUS USA is able to serve MUFG Union Bank in the U.S. and BTMU in Japan, MUS USA is integral to both domestic and overseas business strategies.

In addition to MUS USA's strategic fit within the broader group, Fitch also notes that MUFG has demonstrated support of MUS USA through capital and liquidity provision. Fitch expects that MUFG would continue to provide capital and liquidity support to MUS USA should the need arise.

Fitch's expectation of institutional support from the parent mitigates what Fitch deems to be high leverage compared with other securities firms and potential liquidity risk in its repo book. With respect to the latter, MUS USA has a \\$300 million secured committed facility with BTMU to help mitigate potential liquidity risk.

RATING DRIVERS AND SENSITIVITIES - IDRs
In the near term, MUS USA's ratings would likely be driven by changes in MUFG's ability or propensity to support MUS USA including due to changes in ownership or Fitch's view of MUS USA's importance to the group. Additionally, near term rating sensitivity includes changes to the Japan sovereign rating, which is currently at 'A+' with a Negative Rating Outlook. A downgrade of the sovereign rating could potentially negatively impact the ratings of MUS USA to the extent that the overall MUFG group is impacted.

Due to recently issued foreign bank rules issued in the U.S., MUS USA will be moved under a U.S.-based intermediate holding company in 2016. The U.S. intermediate holding company will consolidate most of MUFG's legal entities under one umbrella in the U.S., which consists primarily of MUS USA and MUFG Union Bank. Fitch believes that the change in legal entity structure will not, in and of itself, have an impact on MUS USA's ratings.

Fitch has assigned the following ratings to Mitsubishi UFJ Securities (USA), Inc.:

--Long-term IDR at 'A'; Outlook Stable
--Short-term IDR at 'F1'.