Affin Bank 3Q profit jumps 554% to RM872m

AFFIN Bank Bhd’s net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2022 (3Q22) surged 554% to RM872.37 million from RM133.2 million previously, thanks to a higher net interest income.

In an exchange filing last Friday, the banking group said its revenue for the current quarter almost tripled to RM1.62 billion from RM552.49 million previously.

Earnings per share rose to 40.54 sen from 6.32 sen and no dividend was declared by the bank.

The bank said its net interest income increased by RM101.1 million, or 15.5%, to RM755.2 million compared to RM654.1 million a year ago mainly due to loan/ financing and financial investment growth in 2022. Income from Islamic banking operations recorded an increase of RM113.8 million or 29.2% to RM503.6 million year-on-year (YoY) due to strong growth in financing.

For the nine months ended Sept 30, 2022, Affin Bank recorded net profit RM1.16 billion versus RM320.09 million the previous year, on the back of revenue of RM2.73 billion versus RM1.67 billion.

In a separate statement, Affin Bank president and group CEO Datuk Wan Razly Abdullah Wan Ali said that overall, the group’s loan and financing grew by 16.6% YoY with its net interest margin expanding to 2.01% from 1.95% in the first nine months of 2021, while the group focuses on building its CASA (current account or savings account) franchise.

He shared that the Affin Bank group continued to show significant improvement in gross impaired loan (GIL) ratio as GIL decreased further to under 2%, or exactly 1.91%, as compared to 3.14% in the previous year, due to strong recovery efforts and tightened underwriting standards.

He added that the group continued to strengthen its reserves evident by its significant increase in loan loss coverage at 112.25% and loan loss reserve at 150%, thus achieving its A22 target ahead of schedule.

“Our finances continue to demonstrate resilience, stable and consistent growth,” he said.

He said the group will now focus towards the second phase of the transformation journey, the A25 Plan which centres around three main thrusts: Unrivalled Customer Service, Digital Leadership and Responsible Banking with Impact.

The A25, unveiled in August this year, is a multi-year strategic plan that revolves around enhancing customer experience, digitalisation and embarking on environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives.

Affin share price finished up 2.1% to 2.43 sen on Nov 25, bringing it a market capitalisation of RM5.3 billion. — TMR