KUALA LUMPUR: AMMB Holdings Bhd
's (AmBank Group) prospects are encouraging amid significant signs of recovery in Malaysia's economy, underpinned by improvements in domestic demand and the job market, said group CEO Datuk Sulaiman Mohd Tahir.
"AmBank Group is in a strong position to weather these uncertain times and capitalise on the opportunities that lie ahead, particularly given our solid liquidity, credit quality and reserve levels,” he said in comments accompanying the group's results announcement.
He added that despite the challenging macro and geopolitical environment, the group's strong fundamentals were reflected in the first-quarter performances of its wholesale banking, retail banking, business banking and Islamic banking divisions.
For the first quarter of its financial year, the group reported a net profit of RM419.2mil, 8.4% improved over the same quarter last year on the back of lower impairment charges.
It said impairments were significantly reduced to RM63.9mil in Q1FY23 as compared to RM203.2mil in the previous year.
Earnings per share was 12.66 sen as compared with 11.86 sen in the comparative quarter.
Total net income for the quarter was RM1.16bil, a 6.17% decline from RM1.24bil in 1QFY22.
Net interest income was up 5.5% year-on-year (y-o-y) while net interest margin was 2.12% higher.
However, non-interest income was down 28.9% y-o-y as the group said volatile market conditions led to lower trading and investment income from the group treasury and markets and insurance business as well as lower fee income from investment banking and wealth management.
On expenses, the group said the reversal of bonus accruals in the quarter saw overall expenses increase 9.9% y-o-y to RM543.7mil.
The cost-to-income ratio rose 46.8% from 40% in the previous year.
The gross impaired loan ratio was 1.55% with loan loss coverage of 123.3% from 139.2% in FY22.
Gross loans grew RM132.8mil in the quarter with a visible corporate loans pipeline in Q2, primarily contributed by growth in mortgages and business banking by RM478.2mil and RM316.9mil respectively, offset by the reduction in wholesale banking by RM848.8mil.
Customer deposits stood at RM121.4bil with time deposits growing 3% year-to-date, while current account savings account (Casa) balances fell 8.2% to RM39.6bil leading to a lower Casa mix of 32.6%.
The group's liquidity coverage ratio was 153% as at June 30, 2022.
FHC CET1 stood at 12.38% as compared with 12.2% in FY22.
Excluding transitional arrangement, the FHC CET1 ratio stood at 11.96% compared with 11.65% in FY22 while the total capital ratio was 15.48%.
