Bangkok--21 Jul--Siam Commercial Bank
Bangkok: Amid a difficult political environment for much of the second quarter, Siam Commercial Bank was able to achieve its loan growth targets with loans outstanding surging to Baht 971 billion, up 7.1% yoy and 3.5% qoq. At the same time the Bank was able to record a strong Net Profit after Tax of Baht of 5.3 billion — up 1.6% yoy. For the first half of 2010, the Bank recorded net profit after Tax of Baht 11.7 billion, an increase of 8.4% yoy from H1-2009. The main drivers of the higher profitability in 2Q, 2010, in addition to loans growth, were the growth in fee and service income of 10.7% yoy and the reduced level of provisioning on the back of improved loan quality.
Commenting on the Second Quarter results, the Chairman of the Bank’s Executive Committee,
Dr. Vichit Suraphongchai, noted that “the buoyant demand in the Bank’s lending products, notwithstanding a disruptive political backdrop, reflects the outcome of the strong push of the Bank to gain market share in all major market segments, particularly blue-chip corporate customers, SME’s, mortgage loans and hire-purchase loans”. He added that “these results attest to the soundness of the Bank’s strategic direction to significantly enhance its franchise while, concurrently, positioning it for higher profitability in the quarters ahead”.
The average loan growth was 7.1% yoy and 3.5% qoq was well rounded with almost all segments reporting impressive growth. In the corporate segment, loans growth was at 7.9% yoy and 3.0% qoq, much of it from the blue chip customers who sought to expand their business in Thailand and overseas. In the SME segment, loans grew by 3.5% yoy and 4.7% qoq on the back of new strategies implemented by the Bank to build market share in this area. In the Retail segment the loans grew by 11.4% yoy and 4.2% qoq from the robust demand for housing loans and hire purchase loans.
Income from fee and services grew strongly, particularly for the core bancassurance and card business products as well as for loan related activities. The income rose by 10.7% yoy. This growth was achieved despite the disruption to the branch services caused by the political unrest.
Finally, reflecting the improving loan quality, the provisioning level dropped to about Baht 1.1 billion (compared to Baht 1.4 billion in 2Q, 2009) even as the Banks’ coverage for NPLs remained at a high of 98.9%.
Khun Kannikar Chalitaporn, President of the Bank, stated that “these results are impressive for any situation but particularly so given the turmoil in the country in almost two months of the current quarter. In a sense, they speak to the resilience of the Bank and its employees and the strong passion to excel at all times. It is this team spirit which makes us unique in the marketplace and marks us as the premier universal bank of the country”.
Siam Commercial Bank PCL is a leading universal bank in Thailand. It was established by Royal Charter in 1906 as the first Thai Bank and, as at June 30, 2010, had the highest market capitalization among Thai Financial Institutions (Baht 276 billion). It has the largest branch (999), exchange booth (112), and ATM (7,467) network in the country, attesting to its dominant position in the retail financial services marketplace. It has a diverse range of Corporate, SME, Private, and Retail customers nationwide, and has an asset size of Baht 1,266 Billion. Further information is available on the Bank's web site at www.scb.co.th.
Corporate Communications Division
Tel: 02-544-4502, 02-544-4517,Email:
[email protected]