KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 27): Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd (ABMB) net profit for the third quarter ended Dec 31, 2023 dipped 0.13% from a year earlier, dragged by higher operating expenses that partially offset the gains from higher net interest and other operating income.  

ABMB net profit was down to RM176.86 million or 11.42 sen per share, from RM177.1 million or 11.44 sen per share a year earlier, its exchange filing showed. However, revenue for the quarter increased marginally by 2.69% year-on-year to RM509.92 million from RM496.55 million.  

For its prospects, ABMB said the group will continue in expanding its business presence in fast-growing economic corridors and strengthen its footprint in Northern Peninsular, Southern Peninsular and East Malaysia.

In terms of its Islamic financing segment, ABMB said it will continue to scale the Islamic Bank’s flagship Halal in One programme which offers business owners venturing into the halal space end-to-end solutions.  

Besides this, the bank added that the group has made substantial strides toward its Acceler8 strategy targets as the majority of the transformation projects are on track and the key pillars are yielding positive results.

For the quarter under review, ABMB's net interest income grew 1.8% year-on-year driven by higher loans volume while net interest margin was at 2.48%.  

Non-interest income (excluding brokerage) also performed well to grow at 18.9% to RM230.7 million, mainly from higher wealth management income, foreign exchange fees as well as banking services fees.  

For 3QFY2024, ABMB's cost-to-income ratio stood at 48.2% while its overall loans extended by 12.9% y-o-y to RM53.4 billion, lifted by the growth momentum from all its business operations.  

Its customer deposits expanded 11.1% y-o-y and its current account saving account (Casa) ratio remained one of the highest in the industry at 45.1%.  

For the nine-month period ended Dec 31 (9MFY2024), ABMB's net profit was lower by 6.38% at RM512.73 million or 33.12 sen per share from RM547.68 million or 35.38 sen per share in 3QFY2023.  

However, its revenue for 9MFY2024 rose 3.66% to RM1.5 billion, compared with RM1.45 billion in the preceding year’s corresponding period.

The capital position (without Transitional Arrangement) of the bank remained robust with Common Equity Tier-1 ratio at 12.8% and Tier-1 Capital ratio at 13.5%.  

The bank's total capital ratio was at 17.2%, while its liquidity position was also strong with a coverage ratio of 149.9% and loan to fund ratio of 87.5%.  

At market noon break on Tuesday, shares in Alliance Bank settled at two sen or 0.55% higher at RM3.63, valuing the bank at RM5.62 billion.