KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 26 — Malayan Banking Bhd’s net profit for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2018 (FY18) rose 7.9 per cent to RM8.11 billion from RM7.52 billion a year ago.
Revenue increased to RM47.32 billion from RM45.58 billion previously.
In a statement today, the bank said the net profit for the year also marked a new record, surpassing the RM8 billion mark for the first time, boosted mainly by higher loans growth, lower overhead costs as well as lower provisioning.
Chairman Datuk Mohaiyani Shamsudin said the results reflected the underlying strength and resilience of the group, which had to contend with an extremely challenging year in 2018.
“Our strategy of growing responsibly, while managing expenses and pricing in a disciplined manner, were key factors that enabled us to remain on a steady growth trajectory despite the heightened volatility in global markets,” she said.
Mohaiyani added in rewarding shareholders the bank has proposed a final single-tier dividend of 32 sen per share, to be made under the Bank’s Dividend Reinvestment Plan, which comprises a 15 sen cash portion and a 17 sen electable portion which can be reinvested into new ordinary shares or paid in cash.
Together with the 25 sen interim dividend declared earlier, the full-year dividend payout of 57 sen per share amounts to RM6.3 billion or 77.3 per cent of net profit.
The total dividend payout also translates into a higher dividend yield of six per cent against 5.6 per cent in 2017, she said.
The bank said for the full year, the group achieved a record net operating income which rose 1.7 per cent to RM23.63 billion, on the back of a 3.1 per cent increase in fund-based income.
Group gross loans also expanded at a faster pace of 4.8 per cent in FY18, compared with 1.7 per cent previously, with healthy growth recorded across all markets while its deposits also expanded at a faster pace of 5.6 per cent compared with 1.8per cent a year earlier, it said.
On its sectoral review, Group Community Financial Services’ (GCFS) pre-tax profit increased 4.9 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM5.57 billion underpinned by the strong franchise built in the region and persistent efforts in cost and asset quality management, it said.
Group Global Banking (GGB) recorded a 4.3 per cent y-o-y increase in pre-tax profit to RM5.36 billion from RM5.14 billion, driven by net fund-based income aided by loans growth across all home markets led by Indonesia, it said.
The bank said the group’s Islamic Banking business also continued to perform strongly, with pre-tax profit rising 10.2 per cent to a record RM3.03 billion on the back of a robust 11.3 per cent rise in total income.
Its financing and advances rose 6.7 per cent while Deposits & Investment Accounts saw a 10.8 per cent increase.
Maybank Islamic maintained a solid performance, with gross financing rising to RM176.8 billion, it added.
The bank said its Etiqa Insurance & Takaful business registered a solid 16.6 per cent rise in gross premium boosted by a 16.5 per cent increase in Total Life Insurance/Family premium and a 16.9 per cent rise in Total General premium, although pre-tax profit dipped 18.6 per cent to RM825.0 million.
Meanwhile, Group President & Chief Executive Officer Datuk Abdul Farid Alias said the group continued to benefit from its strong franchise in the region as well as its strong fundamentals, which gave it the capacity to navigate through the challenging year.
“We remain cautious over the global operating environment given continued geopolitical concerns as well as volatility in commodity prices, although we expect greater stability in the domestic market arising from measures being put in place to ensure sustainable growth.
“We believe we can leverage business opportunities in Asean where the economies will show respectable growth, while at the same time, benefit from our focus on digitalisation which will help us achieve better efficiencies and new frontiers in customer experience, he added. — Bernama
