CIMB Thai’s net profit surges 121.6%

The growth is due to better cost control with a 7.4% decrease in opex and a 63.7% decrease in expected credit losses

by SHAFIQQUL ALIFF / pic BLOOMBERG

CIMB Thai Bank, a subsidiary of CIMB Group Holdings Bhd, saw its net profit jump by 121.6% year-on-year (YoY) to 2.12 billion baht (RM255.95 million) for the first half of 2022 (1H22).

In a filing to Bursa Malaysia, the bank said the improvement was mainly attributed to better cost control with a 7.4% decrease in operating expenses (opex) and a 63.7% decrease in expected credit losses despite a marginal drop of 1.3% in operating income.

It stated that this consequently improved the cost-to-income ratio to 52.8% in the first six months of 2022 (6M22) compared to 56.3% in 6M21.

“The operating income declined by 1.3% to 7.11 billion baht attributed to the drop in net interest income of 417.3 million baht or 8.2% on YoY basis, due to lower interest income on loans and hire purchase business,” it said.

Meanwhile, its net fee and service income increased by 178.9 million baht or 26.7% driven by higher fees from insurance.

Other operating income at CIMB Thai increased by 143.5 million baht, or 9.9%, mainly due to gains on financial instruments evaluated at fair value through profit or loss and other income, offset by greater investment losses.

As of June 30, 2022, the total gross loans such as inclusive of loans guaranteed by other banks and loans to financial institutions, stood at 220.2 billion baht, an increase of 3.9% from Dec 31, 2021.

The deposits (inclusive of bills of exchange, debentures and selected structured deposit products) stood at 282.9 billion baht, an increase of 18.1% from 239.5 billion baht at the end of December 2021.

CIMB Thai stated that its gross non-performing loans (NPLs) stood at 7.4 billion baht, with a lower equivalent gross NPL ratio of 3.3% compared to 3.7% as of Dec 31, 2021.

The lower NPL ratio was mainly due to the sale of some NPLs in the 6M22, as part of efficient risk management policies, improved asset quality management and loan collection processes.