Higher net interest income lifts Alliance Bank's FY22 earnings

KUALA LUMPUR: Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd’s net profit jumped to RM572.82 million for the financial year ended March 31, 2022 (FY2022) from RM358.78 million in the preceding year, largely due to higher revenue from net interest income and lower allowance for expected credit losses.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, the bank said revenue for the year was slightly higher at RM1.87 billion compared with RM1.82 billion previously, while basic earnings per share rose to 37 sen from 23.18 sen before.

Alliance Bank has declared a second interim dividend of 10.2 sen per share for FY2022, bringing the total dividend for the financial year to 18.5 sen per share, which represented a dividend payout ratio of 50 per cent.

In a separate statement, the bank said its net interest income improved 8.8 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM1.48 billion in FY2022 while client-based fee income (excluding brokerage income) increased by 3.5 per cent y-o-y. Pre-provision operating profit grew to RM1.04 billion, exceeding the RM1 billion mark for the second year.

In FY2022, the bank grew its loans by 4.6 per cent y-o-y. Small and medium enterprise (SME) loans increased by 12.4 per cent y-o-y, twice as fast as the industry, while corporate and commercial loans rose 9.5 per cent y-o-y due to higher loan utilisation.

Current account savings account (CASA) deposits grew 3.4 per cent y-o-y, attributable to the increased opening of Alliance SavePlus Accounts, which contributed towards an improved CASA ratio of 48.9 per cent, maintaining the bank at the top of the industry.

Alliance Bank said its capital positions remained strong with Common Equity Tier-1 ratio standing at 16.0 per cent, Tier-1 Capital ratio was at 16.9 per cent, and total capital ratio at 21 per cent.

Meanwhile, loan-to-fund ratio stood at 87.2 per cent, and liquidity coverage ratio was at 155.1 per cent.

Digital transactions increased by 35 per cent y-o-y, and now constitutes 75 per cent of total customer transactions, it added. - Bernama