KUALA LUMPUR: AMMB Holdings Bhd's (Ambank Group) net profit rose 32.2 per cent to RM500.2 million in the first quarter ended June 30, 2024 (1Q25) from RM378.37 million a year ago on lower impairment charges.
Net impairment charges this quarter were lower at RM12.3 million from RM190.4 million a year ago due to lower impairment charges in retail banking and business banking with higher forward-looking reversals arising from favourable changes in macroeconomic variables.
Revenue for the quarter, however, fell two per cent to RM1.18 billion from RM1.2 billion previously.
AMMB registered a higher earnings per share of 15.13 sen compared to 11.44 sen in 1Q24.
Meanwhile, AMMB saw net interest income (NII) increase by 6.4 per cent year-on-year (YoY), lifted by a 13-basis point (bps) YoY expansion in Net Interest Margin (NIM) to 1.89 per cent.
YoY gross loans, advances, and financing grew by 2.9 per cent, mainly driven by business banking loans, which grew 1.5 per cent year-to-date (YTD) and 16.5 per cent YoY.Gross impaired loans (GIL) ratio was 1.70 per cent with group loan loss coverage (LLC), including regulatory reserves at 107.6 per cent.
Customer deposits however reduced 4.8 per cent YTD to RM135.5 billion.
Time deposits remained flat YTD at RM89.7 billion while current and savings account (CASA) balances reduced 13.3 per cent YTD to RM45.8 billion.
The group's liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) improved to 167.9 per cent YTD while loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) was at 97.9 per cent.
AmBank Group chief executive officer Jamie Ling said the group has achieved a strong start to its FY25.
"We delivered a 32 per cent increase in profit after tax and minority interest (PATMI) to RM500.2 million."
"We improved our NIM and delivered an annualised return on equity (ROE) of 10.2 per cent and return on assets (ROA)of 1.02 per cent"We have made a great start to the new financial year as we execute our Winning Together (WT29) Strategy and we remain optimistic in our FY25 prospects," he said in a statement.
Ambank's strategic focus will be on driving its SME and Mid Corp segments to lead lending growth, building out its wealth management offerings and developing efficient supply chain solutions for customers.
The group will continue to invest in technology, in line with its digitalisation agenda, to achieve operational excellence through improved process efficiency and the development of productivity tools.
To future-proof its workforce, the group will strengthen its talent pool by acquiring and developing new skills and capabilities as required.
The group will focus on sustainability, which continues to be one of its key priorities.
Simultaneously, the group also commits to maintaining healthy liquidity levels and the continuous strengthening of capital base while closely monitoring asset quality to mitigate balance sheet related risks.