Maybank profit up 18.1% to $474.97m in Q2

Lower impairments and expenses boosted quarterly earnings.

Malaysia’s largest lender by assets, Maybank, booked a strong earnings performance after Q2 profits rose 18.1% YoY to $474.97m (RM1.96b), according to a statement.

Net impairment losses crashed by 22.9% YoY to $256.87m (RM1.06b). Cost-to-income ratio also improved to 46.9% in Q2 from 48.9% in 2017.

“We have demonstrated our ability to achieve growth even in the midst of significant geopolitical pressures, and we intend to leverage our strong brand equity, digital capabilities as well as our expertise and solid infrastructure to tap into growth opportunities and serve our customers better,” said Maybank group president & CEO Datuk Abdul Farid Alias.

Net fee based income also grew 7.4% to $794.84m (RM3.28b) on the back of higher income from Islamic banking operations, net earned insurance premiums and foreign exchange profits.

Net fund based income similarly edged up 1.6% to $2.03b (RM8.39b), on the back of a 4.6% rise in gross loans with operations from Singapore booking the largest growth at 8.9% followed by Indonesia (6.6%) and Malaysia (6.1%).

The bank declared an interim dividend of 25 sen per share.