KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30 — RHB Bank Bhd is positive on achieving better results for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2018, following its strong performance in the first six months (H1), said Group Managing Director Datuk Khairussaleh Ramli.
“We expect our top-line income to continue growing and repeat the performance (of the first half) in the second half,” he told reporters after announcing its H1 2018 financial results here today.
However, Khairussaleh noted that the group had revised down its loan growth projection to three to four per cent for the full year from the initial target of six per cent.
“Most likely, we will be unable to reach that target, as we only posted one per cent in the first half,” he said.
He noted that factors that supported the growth were mortgage, retail small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and personal financing.
“For property, we see that more and more sales (of houses) are coming into the market and the demand can be seen for houses below RM1 million,” he said.
Khairussaleh said the group was aggressively working on client base diversification.
“That is why we are working on improving the mid-cap segment and simultaneously, we are working on adjusting the composition of contribution from corporate banking segment,” he said.
Corporate banking used to contribute around 35 per cent of its loan book but now it has fallen to 26 per cent.
“Basically we are on track towards clientele diversification,” he explained.
The group has penetrated new accounts under the mid-cap segment and saw wallet share for some existing clients with 20 new mandates in H1 2018 compared with 35 deals closed for 2017.
Meanwhile, the group’s net profit rose 13.8 per cent year-on-year to RM570.26 million in the second quarter ended June 30, 2018, boosting its bottom line for the first half-year by 16 per cent to RM1.16 billion against the same period last year.
Revenue for the quarter increased 1.1 per cent to RM2.66 billion from a year earlier.
The company attributed the better first-half performance mainly to the higher net fund-based and non-fund based income, as well as lower allowances for credit losses on other assets. — Bernama
