KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 29): Public Bank Bhd's net profit rose 14% year-on-year to RM1.62 billion for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023 (2QFY2023), from RM1.42 billion a year earlier, driven by continued healthy loan and deposit growth, prudent cost management, as well as stable asset quality.

In a bourse filing on Tuesday, the banking group said quarterly revenue rose to RM6.26 billion, from RM4.97 billion a year earlier.

Earnings per share rose to 8.34 sen, from 7.30 sen previously.

Public Bank also declared a dividend of nine sen per share.

For the cumulative six months ended June 30, 2023 (1HFY2023), net profit rose to RM3.33 billion from RM2.82 billion, on the back of a revenue of RM12.39 billion versus RM9.86 billion for 1HFY2022.

Reviewing its performance, Public Bank said its profits continued to be supported by healthy loan and customer deposit growth.

It said gross loans grew by RM19.2 billion or 5.2% to RM387.2 billion as at June 30, 2023, compared with RM368.0 billion a year ago, mainly driven by growth in mortgage financing and hire purchase financing.

Total deposits from customers increased by 4.7% or RM18.2 billion to RM406.5 billion as at June 30, 2023.

The group's gross impaired loan ratio remained low at 0.55% as at end-June, compared with the average industry's gross impaired loan ratio of 1.76%.

In a separate statement, Public Bank managing director and chief executive officer Tan Sri  Dr Tay Ah Lek said net interest income increased by 3.4%, mainly led by the loan and deposit businesses, which expanded at annualised growth rates of 5.4% (loans) and 6.0% (deposits).

He said non-interest income grew by 5.4%, on the back of higher income from foreign exchange and stock-broking businesses.

Tay said with the continued expansion of the Malaysian economy, business prospects for the banking sector remain positive.

There are also growing opportunities arising from the increasing demand for digital banking and ESG products, he said.

“On addressing scams, the group has continuously enhanced online security with various new measures.

“These include the implementation of a stronger authentication method known as the PB SecureSign to replace SMS PAC authentication for online transaction approvals.

“Public Bank has also introduced a cooling-off period for banking transactions, which are deemed to have higher risk or abnormal, providing additional security to minimise the risk of scams,” he said.

At the midday break on Tuesday, Public Bank had added 0.49% or two sen to RM4.10, with 3.68 million shares traded.