CIMB Niaga Q1 profit jumps 37%

PETALING JAYA: CIMB Group Holdings Bhd’s Indonesian unit posted a 37% jump in net profit to 877 billion rupiah (RM246.5mil) for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018 compared to a year ago.

In a statement yesterday, PT Bank CIMB Niaga Tbk attributed its profit improvement to a higher non-interest income, which surged 38.5% to 992 billion rupiah during the quarter compared to a year ago.

The bank also said its profits were boosted by lower provision expenses, which saw a 21.2% year-on-year (y-o-y) decline, thanks to the bank’s progressive improvement in asset quality management.

CIMB Group Holdings owns a 92.5% stake in CIMB Niaga. “The positive performance for the first quarter of 2018 was in line with the gradual improvements in macro economic conditions,” said CIMB Niaga president director Tigor M Siahaan in the statement.

He pointed out that the bank’s operating income in the first quarter had increased 5.6% to four trillion rupiah from a year earlier, while its costs were 4.4% higher to two trillion rupiah. CIMB Niaga said the bank had maintained its position as Indonesia’s second-largest national private-listed bank by assets, which stood at 257.5 trillion rupiah as at March 31.

The bank is also the fifth biggest bank in Indonesia by assets.

Meanwhile, on loan growth, the bank posted a 1.8% year on year increase in its total loan growth for the first quarter, with corporate loans accounting for the largest proportion of its loan book at 65.2 trillion rupiah or 36%. “Our strategy to focus on the mortgage and small medium enterprise segments is gaining traction, with each segment growing by 9.9% and 5.3% y-o-y, respectively.

“While our corporate and commercial loans grew by 7.3% and 4.9% y-o-y, respectively,” Tigor said.

As at March 31, 2018, CIMB Niaga said 93% of the total transactions by customers were made through digital banking channels such as CIMB Clicks, Go Mobile, ATMs and mobile wallet Rekening Ponsel.

“Going forward, we will continue to focus on cross-selling activities to drive fee income, optimise CASA (current account savings account) with our consumer and SME digitisation, and strengthen our syariah business proposition and syariah-compliant product offerings,” Tigor said.

For the syariah banking segment, CIMB Niaga said the segment continues to grow, accounting for 9.7% of the bank’s total loans from 6.2% in the previous year.