Ten institutions see Q1 net profits slip

Ten institutions see Q1 net profits slip

First-quarter net profits of 10 listed commercial banks fell marginally, although most of them have set aside massive loan-loss provisions, reflecting more prudent stances amid the economic downturn.

The 10 banks posted a combined net profit of 42.5 billion baht from January to March, down by 0.84% year-on-year, according to their filings to the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET).

State-owned Krungthai Bank (KTB) is the only listed lender that has not released quarterly earnings.

CIMB Thai Bank (CIMBT) was the best performer among the industry in the first quarter with a 40.8% year-on-year surge to 441 million baht due to a 27.1% increase in net interest revenue coupled with a 23.1% rise in fee and service revenue.

CIMBT, 93.15% owned by Malaysia’s CIMB Group, increased its loan-loss provision for the first quarter by 120% from the same period last year.

But the gloomy economy raised the bank’s gross non-performing loans (NPLs) to 5.5 billion baht or 3.1% of its total loans as of March 31 from 2.5% at the end of last December, as rising corporate and retail bad loans contributed to the bank’s higher NPLs.

Despite intense competition in both the deposit and lending markets, CIMBT’s net interest margin (NIM) for the first quarter increased to 3.27% from 3.18% in the same period last year thanks to better control of funding costs.

Kasikornbank (KBank) was the second-best performer. The country’s fourth-largest bank delivered an 18.1% rise in its first-quarter net profit to 11.9 billion baht due to a 13.3% rise in net interest revenue and a 19.1% increase in non-interest revenue.

The higher NIM to 3.61% also helped boost the bank’s bottom line, it said in a filing with the SET.

KBank’s lending edged up 0.79% to 1.45 trillion baht at the end of last month from 1.44 trillion at the end of last year.

Its gross NPLs stood at 2.14% at the end of March, slightly up from 2.11% at the end of 2013. The bank’s loan-loss coverage ratio at the end of March was 138%.

Two other banks fared similarly to CIMBT and KBank. LH Financial Group (LH Bank) showed an 8.18% increase in its first-quarter net profit to 226 million baht, while that of Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) rose by 0.09% year-on-year to 13.1 billion.

All consumer loan-focused banks showed weak earnings during this year’s first quarter.

Kiatnakin Phatra (KKP) emerged as the worst performer, with its net profit plunging 39.8% to 700 million baht.

Thanachart Capital (TCap) reported a 32.2% decline in its quarterly net profit to 1.32 billion baht. The net profit of Bank of Ayudhya (BAY) dropped by 19.2% year-on-year to 3.27 billion baht, while Tisco Financial Group recorded a 19% decrease in its net profit to 935 million.

Bangkok Bank (BBL), the country’s largest lender, saw its quarterly net profit fall by 0.54% to 8.97 billion baht as its 2.1-billion-baht loan-loss provision set aside wiped out higher net interest and non-interest revenue. However, the bank’s net profit rose by 16.6% quarter-on-quarter.

BBL’s net interest revenue rose by 1.4% year-on-year to 13.9 billion baht, and net non-interest revenue increased by 1.7% to 5.22 billion, the bank said in a statement.

Its total lending fell slightly to 1.75 trillion baht quarter-on-quarter due to weak demand from corporate customers.

Its bad loans totalled 45 billion baht, 2.2% of total loans as of March 31, while its loan-loss reserve to NPLs stood at 210%.

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