Senior executives at Japanese banking major Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, one of the world’s biggest banks by assets, have shrugged off economic forecasts that a potential Brexit would put the brakes on foreign – and in particular Japanese – investment into the UK, claiming that a hit to sterling could actually boost exports.

Brendan Brown, chief economist at the international securities arm of MUFG, said at an event on Brexit on April 28 that Japanese firms "are not so concerned" about the possibility of an EU exit, and that UK-based manufacturers in general would benefit from a weaker sterling in the short term, while in the longer term other issues would prove more important than EU membership to foreign companies.