AmBank Group CEO Datuk Sulaiman Mohd Tahir said that a quarter-on-quarter basis,
KUALA LUMPUR: AMMB Holdings Bhd
posted lower earnings of RM323mil in the first quarter ended June 30, 2016, following a decline in net interest income, Islamic banking business and income from its insurance business when compared to a year ago but this was an improvement from the preceding quarter.
The banking group announced on Monday the earnings were down 4.8% from the RM339.51mil a year ago.
Operating profit was lower by 12.7% at RM415.67mil from RM476.50mil while pretax profit was slightly lower at RM479.38mil from RM482.39mil
AMMB's revenue was lower at RM2.06bil from RM2.11bil a year ago. Earnings per share were 10.74 sen compared with 11.31 sen.
Net interest income in the quarter ended June 30, 2016 fell 7.3% to RM392.33mil from RM423.53mil a year ago.
However, it made a writeback for impairment on loans, advances and financing totalling RM36.24mil from a provision of RM10.72mil a year ago.
When compared to the preceeding quarter ended March 31, 2016, the pre-tax profit was higher at RM479.4mil versus RM341.9mil mainly due to lower other operating expenses and higher net income from insurance business by RM84.2mil and RM54.1mil respectively.
“Higher income was reported for the current quarter from Islamic banking business and net interest income by RM6.8mil and RM4.7mil respectively. This was off-set by lower other operating income and lower writeback for commitments and contingencies and impairment on loans and financing by RM19.7mil, RM4.4mil and RM3.3mil respectively,” it said.
AmBank Group CEO Datuk Sulaiman Mohd Tahir said that a quarter-on-quarter basis, “we have seen stabilising margins, cost control showing through and credit quality has held up with improvement in Retail from lower allowances”.
“Our Wholesale Banking division posted higher quarterly net profit year-on-year (YoY), driven by tactical fixed income trading and increase in foreign exchange sales in response to volatility in the ringgit.”
“Our mortgage book recorded commendable growth of 16% YoYwhile overallRetail Banking’s performance was weighed down byyield compression.”
Sulaiman said the banking group has embarked on a new strategic agenda this year taking into account the economic landscape and its aspirations for top 4 in key segments.
"Our focus in the near term is to 'run the bank better' and grow selected market segments and products by leveraging the opportunities from our current customer base while we will continue managingour expenses through cost optimisation initiatives to create headroom for growth investments".
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