กรุงเทพฯ--18 เม.ย.--SCB
Indicative of the recovery of the Thai economy in the current quarter and the underlying competitive strength of the Siam Commercial Bank plc (SCB) franchise, the Bank announced unaudited record first quarter 2012 net profit of Baht 10,342 million, a 29.4% increase from a year earlier (excluding the one-time investment gain arising from the acquisition of shares in SCB Life that were booked in March, 2011). This sharp year-on-year increase in net profit was mainly the result of higher net interest income from robust loan growth, higher net trading income and higher net insurance premium income. At the same time, asset quality has continued to improve, despite the impact of the floods in the previous quarter.
Commenting on these results, Dr. Vichit Suraphongchai, Chairman of the Bank’s Executive Committee noted that “the results attest to the positioning of the SCB franchise in a sharply improving economic climate. The upsurge in profitability is the result of strong customer demand across-the-board and the deeper penetration of the Bank’s fee based services. The results also speak to the outcome of the enhanced capabilities that the Bank has nurtured through its ongoing transformational change program and the solid customer relationships that have been forged at almost every level”.
Net interest income increased by 29.0% to Baht 14,171 million in the quarter compared to the first quarter of 2011. The sharp increase in interest income was primarily due to the robust year-on-year loan growth of 19.6%. The loan growth in the quarter was broadly based with wholesale loans increasing by 10.5% year-on-year, SME loans by 34.1% year-on-year and retail loans by 23.9% year-on-year. In line with its business strategies, the Bank recorded significant increases in the SME portfolio, as well as in the housing loans and auto loans segments within Retail — with 18.2% year-on-year and 42.1% year-on-year increases respectively in the two segments.
Stripping out one-time investment gain from the acquisition of SCB Life in the first quarter of 2011, non-interest income rose by 12.4% year-on-year, primarily from higher insurance premiums net of claims (69.5% year-on-year) and higher net trading income (33.6% year-on-year).
Although the Bank prudently set aside Baht 1,499 million in loan loss provisions in the current quarter, the NPL ratio stood at 2.39% at the end of 1Q12, down significantly from 2.61% at the end of 2011. At the same time, the coverage ratio (NPL to total loan loss provisions) improved to 131.6% from 127.1% at the end of 2011.
The President of the Bank, Kannikar Chalitaporn, stated that “the record quarterly financial results highlight the positioning of SCB’s franchise in every customer segment with strong market share gains in selective segments. In particular, in a recovering economic climate, the Bank has responded to customer needs for additional loans and services in a manner that has allowed us to maintain our profit growth and at the same time deepen our customer engagement in almost every segment”. She added, that “it is this twin ethos, coupled with our outreach programs to our local community that forms the engine for our drive to be the ‘bank of choice’ for customers, shareholders, employees and the community”.