Higher provisions push AmBank Group’s Q3 earnings down

AMMB Holdings Bhd’s net profit dropped 30.1 per cent in the third quarter ended December 2017 to RM218.97 million from RM313.16 million a year earlier partly due to rise in provisions toward bad loans.

Revenue for the quarter under review grew 9.18 per cent to RM2.15 billion from RM1.97 billion in the previous year.

For the nine-month period, net profit was down 11.1 per cent at RM878.72 million while revenue rose 3.6 per cent to RM6.36 billion.

Group chief executive officer Datuk Sulaiman Mohd Tahir said its net interest income increased by RM149.0 million or 8.8 per cent in the nine-month period mainly from customer lending and interest on fixed income securities.

The 5.4 per cent year-on-year growth in total income was underpinned by consistent growth momentum in net interest income.

“Interest income from customer lending was boosted by several factors, primarily, robust growth recorded in residential mortgages as well as increased interest income from securities.

“In addition, cost of funds was lower mainly as a result of the repayment of medium term debt and from diversifying our funding sources towards retail deposits,” he said in a statement.

Moving forward, Sulaiman said the bank’s net interest income will continue to drive its top line growth with mortgage, small and medium enterprises, credit card loans maintaining their growth momentum.

Non-interest income from investment banking and money market activities may still be lumpy but wealth management, corporate and commercial banking will continue to propel non-interest income growth,” he added.

“We expect credit cost to continue to normalise for us with reduced recoveries relative to financial year 2017 as impairment allowances are expected to commensurate with our loans growth.

“We will continue to manage our funding mix, grow current account savings account and diversify our portfolio for sustainable net interest margins. Our capital position is constantly being assessed and we continuously strive to improve its efficiency,” he said.

Sulaiman added that a mutual separation scheme offered in January 2018 will allow them to further optimise the group’s organisational structure, which will in the long run, translate into greater savings and efficiency.