KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s second largest bank CIMB Holdings Bhd continues to be resilient after a challenging year due to moderate economic growth and slowdown in consumer spending in Southeast Asia.
The bank’s Malaysian operations recorded higher revenue of RM3.84 billion in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2015 — a 0.2% growth compared with RM3.52 billion in the corresponding period last year.
CIMB attributed the higher quarterly revenue to a 6.4% increase in its net interest income and a 13% decrease in non-interest income — mainly from weaker treasury and market performance.
However, the bank reported a 9.7% decline in its third quarter net profit at RM803.9 million from RM890.3 million in the same quarter last year — mainly due to higher allowance made for impairment losses on loans, advances and financing.
Commenting on the third quarter financial result, CIMB group chief executive Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Aziz said the bank was well positioned to face the challenges in the financial services industry due to its structural alignment and cost management measures.
“While our growth strategy continues to be measured, considering the environment of weaker regional economies and capital markets, we remain confident that our T18 strategy will continue to deliver the results we set out to achieve,” he said in a statement today.
The T18 strategy, introduced by CIMB in February this year, outlined key organisational changes and cost-cutting measures.
As part of the initiative, the bank closed its offices in Sydney and Melbourne in Australia and also released 3,599 of its staff, or 11% of employees in Malaysia and Indonesia, under a voluntary Mutual Separation Scheme.
For the first nine months of 2015, CIMB’s net profit fell to RM2.06 billion from RM2.91 billion in the same period last year.
Its revenue, however, rose to RM11.35 billion from RM10.47 billion a year ago.
