AMBANK NETS RM391.5M IN Q1
Boost from higher interest on fixed income securities, among others
AMMB Holdings Bhd’s (AmBank) net profit rose 12.62 per cent to RM391.46 million in the first quarter ended June 30, from RM347.60 million a year ago.
The bank said the higher earnings were mainly due to interest on lending and interest income from securities.
Revenue rose 10.14 per cent to RM2.39 billion from RM2.17 billion a year ago, fuelled by higher interest on fixed income securities and customer lending, non-interest income and interest income of deposits and lending.
AmBank group chief executive officer Datuk Sulaiman Mohd Tahir said the banking group kicked off its fiscal year
ending March 31 next year with a higher return on equity of 8.8 per cent.
“Total income rose five per cent year-onyear from improved trading performance and insurance income despite the subdued lending environment.”
He said AmBank continued to exert cost discipline with its cost-to-income (CTI) ratio further improving to 49.7 per cent.
The group’s net interest income continued to increase steadily at 4.2 per cent yearon-year due to expanded loans and deposits base.
Its non-interest income grew 6.4 per cent to RM395.4 million, largely contributed by higher trading and investment income from group treasury, markets and general insurance.
Sulaiman said the group was currently in the third year of its BET300 efficiency programme and continued to record cost savings.
This allowed it to re-invest in strategic business streams as well as digital capabilities and infrastructure.
Its operating expenses rose 3.1 per cent year-on-year to RM528.6 million, and gross impaired loan ratio stood at 1.66 per cent from 1.59 per cent in the same period a year ago.
Gross loans increased 2.5 per cent year-on-year, although it contracted one per cent yearto-date to RM100.8 billion.
This was mainly due to corporate loan repayments and decline in car loans.
The group’s gross loans continued to grow in targeted segments, including mortgage, which increased 1.7 per cent year-to-date to RM34.7 billion.
Loans in the retail and small and medium enterprises, and business banking segments grew six and 1.1 per cent year-to-date, respectively.
Sulaiman said he expected Malaysia’s economy, which expanded 4.9 per cent in the second quarter on sustained domestic demand, to remain stable.