KUALA LUMPUR: RHB Bank Bhd’s net profit for the first quarter ended March 31, 2024 (Q1’24) fell 4.1% to RM730.17 million from RM761.67 million registered in the same quarter last year. However, revenue increased to RM4.40 billion from RM3.92 billion previously.

In a Bursa Malaysia filing today, the bank said the group’s net profit for the three months improved 24.6% quarter-on-quarter from RM585.9 million reported in Q4’23 but declined by 4.1% year-on-year (y-o-y) due to higher operating expenses and expected credit loss.

It noted that operating expenses were RM959.2 million, mainly due to higher personnel, establishment and marketing costs while the cost-to-income ratio stood at 45.9%.

As for net fund-based income, the bank said it increased marginally y-o-y to RM1.4 billion on the back of higher funding income, mainly due to growth in gross loans and financing of 5.4% y-o-y with net interest margin (NIM) for the quarter was at 1.83%.

It said non-fund-based income increased 31.6% y-o-y to RM702.7 million, primarily due to higher fee income, net gains on forex and derivatives, net trading and investment income, and net income from the insurance business.

“The group continued to manage its funding costs through an active liability management initiative. Taking this into account, the effective NIM was 1.94%,” it shared.

RHB Bank said its balance sheet and capital position remained robust with total assets increased marginally year to date to RM329.3 billion and the capital position remained strong with its Common Equity Tier-1 and total capital ratio stood at 16.5% and 19.2%, respectively.

The group said its gross loans and financing grew 1.1% year to date to RM224.9 billion, mainly supported by group community banking and Singapore’s growth of 1.2% and 4.8%, respectively.

Current account savings account grew 2.9% year to date to RM70.4 billion, mainly due to growth contributed by group community banking and group wholesale banking of 2.3% and 5.4%, respectively, it noted.

Meanwhile, the bank said gross impaired loans were at RM4.1 billion as of March 2024, with a gross impaired loans ratio of 1.83%, compared with RM3.9 billion and 1.74% respectively, as of December 2023.

Group managing director and CEO Mohd Rashid Mohamad said the bank’s balance sheet remained strong due to its robust capital and liquidity positions and rigorous risk management.

“We will continue improving business performance and asset quality, capturing opportunities, and growing market share in the targeted segments. We are on track to achieving our revised Sustainable Financial Services target of RM50 billion under our Sustainability Strategy and Roadmap. On a cumulative basis, we have attained over RM26.4 billion, equivalent to almost 53% of our refreshed sustainable financial services target.

He said the bank’s “Together We Progress 2024’” corporate strategy is now in its final year of execution.

“We are intensifying our efforts to ensure that we achieved the key performance indicators we have set. Central to this is enhancing digitalisation and technology infrastructure, which are key drivers to innovation and better performance,” he added. – Bernama