KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30 — AMMB Holdings Bhd’s (AmBank Group) net profit for the first quarter ended June 30, 2021 (Q1 FY2022), rose to RM386.6 million from RM365.17 million posted in the same quarter last year.

Revenue fell 5.3 per cent to RM2.1 billion from RM2.21 billion previously, AmBank Group said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.

The group said fund-based income from interest-bearing assets decreased mainly from interest on fixed-income securities.

Interest income from securities decreased mainly from the trading portfolio and funding costs, attributable to lower interest expense on deposits from customers and securities sold under repurchase agreements.

Group chief executive officer Datuk Sulaiman Mohd Tahir said AmBank Group was able to register a solid overall performance, delivering 34.2 per cent growth in profit before provision (PBP) to RM743.3 million amid challenging circumstances.

"At the same time, we continued to exert cost discipline demonstrated by AmBank’s improved cost-to-income ratio of 40 per cent. Indeed, our long-term transformation efforts, from our Top 4 strategy and now continuing into our Focus 8 strategy, has placed the group on a more formidable footing to face the challenging operating landscape,” he added.

Sulaiman said the group’s net credit cost for the quarter stood at 65 basis points (bps), which would have been 35 bps excluding the overlay.

"While we foresee increased impairment risk to our credit portfolios, this will only become more apparent in the latter part of FY22. Our mitigatory efforts continue to be in place. Our prudent and proactive stance has seen us set aside a pre-emptive overlay totaling RM832.7 million since the very first movement control order (MCO) in March 2020,” he said.

The group said deposits from customers decreased 5.3 per cent year-to-date to RM114.1 billion. while current and savings account balances registered a drop of 4.6 per cent to RM34.1 billion. 

Going forward, Sulaiman said AmBank Group will continue to place customer needs at the forefront while spearheading new paradigm shifts in an increasingly dynamic and digital banking environment, while at the same time observing good cost discipline.

"We have been clear about the importance of continually reviewing all aspects of our businesses to ensure alignment with our strategic aspirations. While we have commenced FY22 with an encouraging start, we remain cautious of Malaysia’s economic outlook for the remainder of the year as we do our best to anticipate the impact of the full MCO and the recently announced six-month loan moratorium,” he said. — Bernama