KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 — Public Bank Bhd’s (PBB) pre-tax profit for the first quarter ended March 31, 2014, grew by 4.5 per cent to RM1.33 billion from RM1.26 billion in the same period last year.

Revenue increased to RM3.94 billion from RM3.67 billion previously.

Founder/Chairman, Tan Sri Teh Hong Piow, said the bank continued to demonstrate resilience in its performance, particularly the domestic operations, which recorded a healthy annualised loan growth of 10.7 per cent and an annualised deposit growth of 14.2 per cent.

“This is despite the protracted external uncertainties and challenging operating environment with expected moderation in the overall domestic demand,” he said in a statement today.

Teh said PBB maintained its market leadership position in domestic lending for residential mortgages, commercial property financing and passenger vehicles financing with market shares of 19.6 per cent, 33.7 per cent and 26.9 per cent respectively.

He said lending to the retail banking segment remained the key focus of the bank with extension of credit mainly to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as for purchasing of residential properties and passenger vehicles.

As at the end of March this year, he said, the bank’s retail loan portfolio collectively accounted for 86 per cent of its total loans.

Lending to SMEs recorded an annualised growth of 25.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2014, he said.

Teh said the bank’s funding and liquidity position remained supportive of its lending activities, backed by its strong retail deposit franchise with a large domestic depositor base of over five million customers.

He said the bank’s total customer deposits grew at an annualised rate of 12.8 per cent, with domestic customer deposits growing at a stronger annualised rate of 14.2 per cent.  

Teh said the bank’s non-interest income grew by 7.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2014 as compared to the corresponding quarter in 2013, mainly driven by income from higher unit trust business and transactional banking services.

He said PBB’s unit trust management business, via wholly-owned unit, Public Mutual Bhd, registered a strong double-digit during the quarter under review with a pre-tax profit growth of 17.1 per cent as compared to the corresponding quarter in 2013. 

Overseas, he said, the bank’s Cambodian operations contributed 6.9 per cent of PBB’s overall pre-tax profit.

He said Cambodian Public Bank Plc, a wholly-owned unit of PBB, reported a 32.2 per cent growth in pre-tax profit to US$9.6 million as compared to the corresponding quarter in 2013, amid the challenging business environment, and remained as one of the top three largest bank in Cambodia. 

On prospect, Teh said, the bank’s strategy remained unchanged with focus continued on its core retail banking and financing business, whilst maintaining its prudent credit policies, as well as upholding strong corporate governance. 

“With the expectation that the Malaysian economy will remain on a steady growth path of 4.5 per cent to 5.5 per cent in 2014, backed by domestic demand, albeit at a more moderate pace, PBB is expected to maintain its earnings momentum for the rest of 2014,” he said. — Bernama