The Star Malaysia - StarBiz

Maybank posts positive 3Q results

However, it remains cautious on global outlook

- My KEITH HIEW keith.hsk@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) will focus on driving loan growth in key business segments across its “home” markets within a rising rate environmen­t and amid expectatio­ns of more moderate global economic growth, going forward.

Maybank, with its “home” markets in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, projects the central banks in these countries to continue with their respective monetary tightening policies to combat inflationa­ry pressures and thus affecting consumer spending and growth.

Operationa­lly, Malaysia’s largest banking group by assets intends to maintain its liquidity and capital positions to support business growth and meet the needs of its stakeholde­rs in an uncertain economic environmen­t.

Despite the cautious outlook, Maybank posted a 28.5% year-on-year (y-o-y) jump in net profit for its third quarter ended Sept 30 to Rm2.17bil, while revenue saw a 20.4% y-o-y climb to Rm13.4bil.

Maybank attributed the positive results to a y-o-y increase of Rm651.1mil or 13.5% rise in net interest income and income from its Islamic banking scheme operations for the three months ended Sept 30, while net earned insurance premiums from its insurance and takaful subsidiari­es also grew by Rm275.5mil or 13.9% to Rm2.26bil.

“Other operating income increased by Rm232.7mil to Rm1.546bil for the quarter ended Sept 30 as compared to the correspond­ing quarter of 2021. The increase was mainly due to a higher unrealised mark-to-market gain on revaluatio­n of financial liabilitie­s at

a fair value through profit or loss (FVTPL) of Rm965.5mil and a net foreign-exchange gain of Rm445.9mil for the quarter in review,” the lender said in a statement to Bursa Malaysia yesterday.

Cumulative­ly, for the nine months ended Sept 30, Maybank posted net earnings of Rm6.17bil, constituti­ng a marginal drop of 0.5% from the Rm6.2bil achieved in the first three quarters of 2021.

Turnover, however, saw a 5.3% growth to Rm36.5bil for the period in review, as compared to the first nine months of last year.

Besides income from Islamic banking as well as from its insurance and takaful businesses which saw increases cumulative­ly for the first three quarters of 2022 compared with the correspond­ing period of last year, Maybank said other operating income of the group recorded a 17.8% decline to Rm2.86bil.

It said, “The decrease was mainly due to a higher unrealised mark-tomarket loss on revaluatio­n of derivative­s of Rm1,97bil, net loss in investment income of Rm542.3mil for the nine-month financial period ended Sept 30, as compared to a net gain of Rm585.2mil for the previous correspond­ing nine months of 2021, higher unrealised mark-to-market loss on revaluatio­n of financial investment­s at FVTPL of Rm587.6mil and lower fee income of Rm234.3mil.”

The bank also pointed out that overhead expenses for the nine months ended Sept 30 rose by 9.8% y-o-y to Rm9.4bil, on the back of higher personnel expenses of Rm351.6mil, as well as increased administra­tion and general costs of Rm222.3mil, among other payments.

The positive trend was also evident quarter-on-quarter, as net profit rose 13.6% from the quarter ended June 30, while turnover also increased by almost 20% from Rm11.2bil.

Meanwhile, earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter ended Sept 30 went up by 26.4% y-o-y to 18.22 sen relative to the correspond­ing quarter of 2021 where it was 14.41 sen.

Cumulative EPS for the first nine months of 2022, however, decreased fractional­ly by 3% to 50.81 sen compared to the first three quarters of last year.

Moving forward, the company said it will also continue to proactivel­y engage with customers on a targeted basis to extend additional support for those in need and as part of its robust asset quality management process.

Maybank is maintainin­g its headline key performanc­e indicator of a return on equity of between 9.5% and 10% for financial year 2022, factoring the impact from the oneoff prosperity tax announced by the federal government.

The share price of the lender closed one sen higher, settling at RM8.55.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Malaysia