KUALA LUMPUR, May 29 — Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank), Malaysia’s biggest bank by assets, said first-quarter net profit climbed 6.3 per cent, helped by strong loan growth, particularly at its Islamic banking division.
Southeast Asian banks have been on a roll, benefiting from booming property markets and double-digit loan growth in rapidly expanding economies like Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. Maybank’s latest results mark more than four years of year-on-year quarterly growth.
Net profit grew to RM1.6 billion (US$497 million) on a 2.9 per cent revenue gain to RM8.36 billion. Most analysts covering Maybank do not provide forecasts for the first quarter.
“With our new regional organisation structure now firmly in place, we expect to see stronger momentum in our earnings for the rest of 2014,” Maybank group chief executive Abdul Farid Alias said in a statement today.
Fee-based income, however, contracted 8.3 per cent in the quarter from a year earlier, partly due to a decline in income from investment banking.
It also faces headwinds in Indonesia, where the costs of funding have risen after rate hikes. Its unit Bank Internasional Indonesia Tbk PT posted a 39 per cent slump in first-quarter net profit.
Maybank’s results follow record annual earnings last year for both Maybank and domestic rival CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and Singapore’s top three banks, led by DBS Group Holdings, all booked their strongest ever quarterly earnings last month.
Maybank, led by new chief Abdul Farid, is looking to ramp up expansion in Southeast Asia, seeking to boost overseas profits to 40 per cent of overall income in 2015 from about 30 per cent now.
CIMB last week posted its highest quarterly net interest income in 13 years although net profit dropped after earnings in the same period last year were bolstered by the sale of a business unit.
Maybank shares were 0.3 per cent higher at RM9.97 per share before the results, in line with the broader market. Its stock is flat for the year to date, underperforming the benchmark index’s 0.3 per cent rise. — Reuters
