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22nd July, 2008
KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Rakyat’s target to register RM1 billion profit this year is within range after its profit before tax and zakat for the first half ended June 30, 2008, rose 42.8 per cent to RM515.7 million from RM361.2 million in the same period last year.
Its managing director Datuk Kamaruzaman Che Mat attributed the growth to higher net income and fee-based income.
“We can still meet our target although it depends on interest rate (OPR) that we anticipate to go up.
“But so far it is manageable and we have the means if the rate increased,” he told reporters after announcing the bank’s the first-half financial performance here yesterday.
Bank Rakyat’s gross income rose by 19.1 percent or RM246.8 million to RM1.538 billion compared to the previous corresponding period, he said.
Kamaruzaman said net income increased by 16.6 percent or RM128.2 million to RM898.0 million, driven by continued strong growth in both quality financing and deposit as well as further improvement in asset quality.
He said fee-based income was RM36.9 million, coming from ‘wasiat’ (wills), commission on takaful and automated teller machine (ATM) services which contributed 65.8 per cent of total fee-base income.
While total assets expanded by 22.0 per cent or RM6.5 billion to stand at RM36.0 billion.
Kamaruzaman added that consumer net financing balance increased by 20.6 percent or RM4.1 billion to stand RM24.3 billion as at the end of June 2008.
“Consumer financing is the major contributor to the bank’s business which accounts for 96.3 percent of the total financing as at the end of June 2008 while 3.7 percent contribution is from commercial financing,” he said.
According to him, consumer financing is expected to soar in the second half of the year as customers have less disposable income due to new fuel price structure.
In fact, the number of financial applications has increased since June and July, he added.
Kamaruzaman said the bank’s net non-performing financing (NPF) ratios improved to 2.2 percent from 2.7 percent.
“The consistently low NPF ratios reflect the bank’s prudent lending policies and practices, complemented by strong credit management and proactive credit recovery process,” he said.
Bank Rakyat is holding its “Langgan & Menang Aslah Merdeka” campaign for “Pembiayaan Peribadi-i Aslah” customers from July 22 to Oct 31 this year.
The three-month campaign offers 153 prizes worth more than RM300,000.
Those interested to know more can log on to www.bankrakyat.com.my
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