KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 29): RHB Bank Bhd’s net profit rose 28% to RM808.70 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2023 (2QFY2023) from RM630.07 million a year ago, driven by higher allowances for credit losses written back, partly offset by lower net funding income and higher operating expenses.

Quarterly revenue jumped 37.2% to RM4.05 billion from RM2.95 billion in 2QFY2022.

This led to earnings per share rising to 18.95 sen from 15.16 sen, its Bursa Malaysia filing on Tuesday showed.

RHB has declared an interim dividend of 15 sen per share for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2023 (FY2023), amounting to RM642.95 million which will be paid at a date to be determined later.

For the first half of FY2023 (1HFY2023), RHB's net profit increased 29.5% to RM1.57 billion against RM1.21 billion a year ago, driven by improvement in higher non-fund based income and higher allowances for credit losses written back, offset by lower net funding income and higher operating expenses.

Revenue for the period jumped 38.3% to RM7.97 billion from RM5.76 billion in 1HFY2022.

Its non-fund based income rose by 46.3% to RM1.06 billion, contributed by higher net trading and investment income and higher net gain on foreign exchange and derivatives.

It was partly offset by a one-off gain on disposal of a subsidiary a year ago and lower capital market and wealth management fee income, brokerage income and net income from insurance business.

Operating expenses increased 6.5% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM1.8 billion, and its cost-to-income ratio stood at 47.5% compared with 44.9% a year ago.

Net allowance for credit losses written back was RM85.5 million, compared to the charge of RM192.4 million a year ago.

The group’s total assets increased by 1.8% from December 2022 to RM316.2 billion as at June 30, 2023.

Its gross loans and financing grew by 4.5% y-o-y to RM214.2 billion, mainly supported by growth in mortgage, auto finance, small and medium enterprise, and Singapore.

Customer deposits increased by 1.5% to RM229.3 billion, with a 4.1% growth in fixed deposits and money market time deposits, offset by a 4.7% decrease in current account savings accounts (Casa). Casa composition stood at 27.6% as at June 30, 2023.

Gross impaired loans was RM3.5 billion as at June 30, 2023, against RM3.3 billion last year. Meanwhile, gross impaired loans ratio stood at 1.64% compared with 1.62% last year.

At the midday break, RHB shares were up three sen or 0.53% to RM5.68, valuing the group at RM24.35 billion.