Kuala Lumpur: AMMB Holdings Bhd (AmBank Group) posted a lower net profit of RM486.49 million for the third quarter (3Q) ended Dec 31, 2024, down from RM543.41 million a year earlier. The decline was mainly due to lower income from Islamic banking and higher operating expenses. However, revenue rose to RM1.24 billion from RM1.15 billion, it said in a filing to Bursa Malaysia.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, for the cumulative nine months of the financial year 2025 (9M 2025), net profit increased to RM1.49 billion from RM1.39 billion, while revenue grew to RM3.65 billion from RM3.48 billion. The bank reported that net interest income rose 7.8 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM2.67 billion, supported by a 15-basis point expansion in net interest margin to 1.94 percent and a 4.4 percent growth in loans and financing.

Non-interest income declined 2.3 percent y-o-y to RM972.6 million, mainly due to the absence of a one-off divestment gain from AmGeneral Insurance Bhd in 9M FY24 and lower trading gains from Group Treasury and Markets. This was partially offset by higher fee income from business banking, wealth management, and investment banking.

AmBank Group stated that gross loans, advances, and financing rose 4.4 percent to RM137.1 billion, driven by 15.2 percent growth in business banking loans. Basic earnings per share increased 6.9 percent to 44.99 sen, while net assets per share added 28 sen to RM6.07. Customer deposits fell 2.8 percent year-to-date to RM138.4 billion as the bank continued efforts to improve margins. Time deposits rose 4.7 percent to RM93.8 billion, while current account and savings account (CASA) balances declined 15.4 percent to RM44.6 billion, with a CASA mix of 32.2 percent.

Chief executive officer Jamie Ling expressed that AmBank Group delivered another strong quarter of earnings, with encouraging year-to-date results. “We delivered strong loan growth, especially in business banking, while moderating retail banking growth to de-risk and redeploy our capital resources more profitably in line with our Winning Together (WT29) strategy. Our liquidity remains ample, and our capital levels are strong,” he said, adding that the bank continues to focus on strategic priorities and is executing well in its first year of the WT29 strategy.