KUALA LUMPUR: AFFIN Group recorded a Profit Before Tax (PBT) after zakat of RM144.0mil for the first quarter of 2024 (1Q2024), marking a 110.2 per cent increase quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) compared to RM68.5mil in the preceding quarter.
On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, PBT decreased by 26.6 per cent due to net interest margin compression. The Group’s total assets grew by 14.1 per cent, reaching RM107.3bil in 1Q2024, up from RM94.1bil in the previous corresponding period.
President and Group chief executive officer Datuk Wan Razly Abdullah acknowledged the challenges posed by prolonged competitive pressures on deposit pricing.
“However, we remain focused on expanding our CASA franchise and high-margin businesses while optimising costs, which are encapsulated in our AFFIN Axelerate 2028 (AX28) plan.
“We are encouraged that our new Mobile Banking App, launched in October 2023, has garnered over RM400mil in CASA deposits. Our high-margin businesses have also shown growth, particularly in the Personal Financing segment, which grew 27.1 per cent YoY to RM6.1bil.
“The credit card segment has also grown 23.4 per cent YoY to RM461.5mil. We plan to introduce various innovative products and digital initiatives this year,” he said in a recent statement.
He added that the bank remains cautious about the fragile economic environment due to geopolitical uncertainties in Europe and the Middle East, coupled with weak trade demand from the USA and Europe.
“Given the global economic weakness, we have raised our underwriting standards in anticipation of potential knock-on effects on the Malaysian economy.
“Our capital position and loan loss reserve provisions remain elevated to protect the Bank and its shareholders.
“We are pleased to announce that RAM Ratings has reaffirmed our rating at AA3/Stable/P1, citing the Group’s healthy loss absorption buffers in the form of provision reserves and capitalisation, which provide adequate financial headroom to weather potential credit slippages. RAM Ratings also considered the potential change in AFFIN’s shareholding structure,” he added.
“We are now awaiting developments on our shareholding changes between Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT) and Boustead Holdings Berhad with the Sarawak government. We hope the negotiations will be concluded soon.”
