KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 17): Public Bank Bhd’s (KL:PBBANK) net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2025 slipped 3.65% year-on-year on lower interest-based income.
Net profit fell to RM1.84 billion from RM1.91 billion a year earlier, after the 25-basis-point cut in the overnight policy rate (OPR) during the quarter, according to its Bursa Malaysia filing on Monday.
Earnings per share eased to 9.54 sen from 9.85 sen in the same quarter last year. No dividends were declared for the quarter.
The third-largest lender said net interest and Islamic banking income decreased marginally by RM6.5 million in the three months, reflecting lower yields on interest/profit earning assets.
However, this was partially mitigated by healthy loans/financing growth, whereas investment income expanded by RM73.7 million, or by more than 100%, driven by higher gains from bond disposals amid better bond pricing.
"Additionally, non-interest income was also supported by income contribution from the newly acquired general insurance business of RM88.5 million.
"The improved performance was, however, partially offset by lower profit contribution from an associated company, higher other operating expenses and higher loan impairment allowance," it said.
Quarterly revenue rose 8.96% to RM7.42 billion from RM6.81 billion a year ago.
For the nine-month period, Public Bank recorded a net profit of RM5.35 billion, broadly unchanged from RM5.35 billion last year, while revenue increased 9.62% to RM22.08 billion from RM20.15 billion.
Net interest and financing income rose by 2.5% to RM8.45 billion, as compared with RM8.24 billion in the corresponding period in 2024.
Non-interest and non-financing income posted strong growth momentum, with a double-digit growth of 19.0%, mainly due to the newly acquired general insurance business from LPI Capital Group.
Gross loans rose 4.02% year to date to RM441.24 billion, driven mainly by residential mortgages and hire-purchase financing, while customer deposits increased 2.99% to RM446.21 billion.
The group’s gross impaired loans ratio remained steady at 0.52%. Loan loss coverage was sustained at a prudent level of 154.8%.
Public Bank Group’s total customer deposits grew at an annualised rate of 4.0% to RM446.2 billion, supported by sustained growth in core deposits.