Affin Bank net profit more than doubles to RM1.30 bln in FY2022

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 27 (Bernama) -- Affin Bank Bhd posted a higher net profit of RM1.30 billion for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2022 (FY2022), more than doubled the net profit of RM526.93 million reported a year ago.

Revenue also increased to RM3.30 billion from RM2.24 billion previously, it said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.

However, for the fourth quarter of FY2022 (4Q), the bank’s net profit fell to RM138.26 million from RM206.85 million in 4Q FY2021, while revenue declined to RM566.71 million against RM572.13 million previously.

In a separate statement filed with the exchange, Affin Bank said the group’s profit before tax (PBT) jumped 120.2 per cent to RM1.55 billion in FY2022 from RM703.85 million, supported by an increase in group net interest income (NII).

President and group chief executive officer Datuk Wan Razly Abdullah said: “The improvement in PBT was supported by an increase in NII which rose by 13.9 per cent or RM124.5 million to RM1.02 billion compared to FY2021, and an increase of 39.3 per cent to RM346.0 million in the PBT of Affin Islamic Bank Bhd.

“The strong growth in group PBT was also contributed by the gains from our divestment of Affin Hwang Asset Management Bhd.” 

Wan Razly said the higher NII was mainly due to loan growth of 15.4 per cent.

Besides that, he said Affin Islamic Bank Bhd was a significant contributor to the group as its PBT recorded an increase of 39.3 per cent or RM97.5 million due to strong financing growth at 15.3 per cent for FY2022.

The Affin group continued to show significant improvement in gross impaired loan (GIL) ratio as GIL decreased to 1.97 per cent, as compared to 2.54 per cent in FY2021, due to strong recovery efforts and tighter underwriting standards.

The group continued to strengthen its reserves as evident by the increase in loan loss coverage (LLC) and loan loss reserve (LLR) at 109.0 per cent and 150.0 per cent, respectively, as compared to LLC of 72.5 per cent and LLR of 130.2 per cent in FY2021.

The board of directors has proposed a final dividend of RM176.7 million or 7.77 sen per share for FY2022, bringing the total dividend to 30.39 sen per share after the special and interim dividend of 22.62 sen that was paid to shareholders on Dec 29, 2022. This represents a total dividend payout of RM677.1 million or 53.3 per cent of the Group’s net profit for FY2022.

Moving forward, the bank said the group treasury division will be concentrating on four key areas, including building the ability to generate stable and recurring non-interest income, increasing the Group’s return on assets, and harnessing the benefits of the Affin Group synergy to deepen the treasury wallet share.

-- BERNAMA