KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 — RHB Bank Bhd registered a slightly higher net profit of RM635.59 million in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2021 from RM622.25 million a year ago due to higher total income.

Revenue stood at RM3.03 billion, better than the RM2.95 million previously, it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia today.

For nine-month period, net profit rose to RM1.99 billion compared with RM1,59 billion, while revenue was lower at RM8.86 billion from RM9.42 billion.

In a statement, RHB Bank said improvement in net profit was contributed by the higher net fund based income and lower net modification loss, partially offset by higher allowances for credit losses, higher operating expenses and lower non-fund based income.

The bank’s net fund based income rose to RM4.34 billion driven by proactive funding cost management, which dropped 28.9 per cent year-on-year supported by current account savings account (CASA) growth of 4.8 per cent.

Meanwhile, RHB Bank said non-fund based income declined to RM1.74 billion, primarily from lower net trading and investment income which offset higher insurance underwriting surplus and fee income growth from capital market, asset management and commercial banking.

Overall, total assets for the group went up 3.6 per cent from December 2020 to RM280.9 billion as at Sept 30, 2021.

Its gross loans and financing grew by 4.6 per cent year-to-date to RM194.6 billion, mainly supported by growth in mortgage, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), commercial and Singapore.

Domestic loans and financing grew 2.6 per cent year-to-date, while customer deposits increased by 5.2 per cent to RM214 billion, predominantly attributed to fixed and money market time deposits growth of 6.6 per cent and CASA of 2.8 per cent.

RHB Bank’s Liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) remained healthy at 138 per cent.

RHB Banking Group managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Khairussaleh Ramli said the bank continued its positive momentum in the nine months of 2021 underpinned by its strong fundamentals.

"We remain to be the best capitalised bank in the industry with robust liquidity levels.

"Nevertheless, the group will continue to be vigilant, monitoring asset quality and making proactive credit provisions when necessary, while we strive to uphold our prudent stance,” he noted. — Bernama