KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 26): Malayan Banking Bhd (KL:MAYBANK) said on Wednesday that its net profit rose 6% in the final quarter of 2024, thanks to higher net interest income and insurance earnings.

Net profit at Malaysia’s biggest bank by assets for the three months ended Dec 31, 2024 (4QFY2024) was RM2.53 billion, according to its exchange filing. The company also declared a dividend of 32 sen per share, bringing its total payout for the year to 61 sen per share.

For 2025, Maybank said it will focus on its “super growth areas” of wealth management, mid-market, non-retail and bancassurance segments, while betting on strong economic growth of its home markets of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

“We continue to see good traction across our core businesses, collectively strengthening our top line growth,” group chief executive officer Datuk Khairussaleh Ramli said in a separate statement. “At the same time, we better manage our asset quality and overheads.”

For the entire FY2024, Maybank reported a net profit of RM10.09 billion, a nearly 8% increase from FY2023. Net interest income rose 2.0% to RM19.69 billion, as loans expanded 5.3%, while non-interest income, including fees, commissions, and insurance earnings, climbed 23% to RM9.88 billion.

The net interest margin, a measure of profitability from interest charged on loans after deducting returns paid to depositors, however contracted 10 basis points to 2.05%.

Maybank achieved a return on equity of 11.1% in 2024, and the bank is targeting to raise it to 11.3% and above this year.

In terms of asset quality, Maybank’s gross impaired loans — debts deemed unrecoverable as a percentage of total loans — improved to 1.23%, from 1.34% a year earlier.

The bank’s common equity Tier 1 capital ratio, a measure of a bank’s capital strength based on the highest quality of regulatory capital, declined to 14.9%, from 15.3% in 2023.