KUALA LUMPUR, 31 May 2019 – CIMB Group Holdings Berhad reported a Profit Before Tax (PBT) of RM1.60 billion for the first quarter of 2019 (1Q19).
CIMB stated the 8.0% year-on-year decline was attributed to a lower operating income and a 7.5% increase in operating expenses, partially offset by a 25.2% year-on-year decline in loan loss provisions.
Group CEO of CIMB Group, Tengku Dato’ Sri Zafrul Aziz commented despite the decline in PBT, the QoQ performance improved by 6.0%.
“The QoQ performance was supported by better operating income in 1Q19, driven by stronger performances in Thailand and Singapore. Our ROE came in at 9.2%, and we are pleased that our Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) strengthened to 12.8% while loan loss charge improved to 0.34%,” he said.
“Operating income was 3.2% lower year-on-year due to a decline in fee income and the RM152 million gain from the sale of CIMB Securities International in the prior year’s corresponding period,” CIMB said.
The Group’s 1Q19 net profit was 8.7% lower year-on-year at RM1.19 billion, translating to a net Earnings Per Share of 12.5 sen and an annualised Return On average Equity (ROE) of 9.2%.
Total gross loans grew by 7.6% year-on-year while total deposits were 5.6% higher year-on-year. The Loan to Deposit Ratio (LDR) stood at 91.4%, compared to 89.7% as at end-March 2018.
As for CIMB Islamic, the 1Q19 PBT increased by 19.8% year-on-year to RM248 million, driven by strong 16.4% operating income growth and 57.6% lower provisions.
“CIMB Islamic’s gross financing assets rose 16.2% year-on-year to RM74.0 billion, accounting for 21.1% of the Group’s total gross loans. Total deposits (including investment account) increased by 13.3% year-on-year to RM81.8 billion,” it stated.
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