The country's top bank Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) yesterday announced that its net profit for the nine months to March rose marginally to RM1.37 billion ringgit from a year ago o­n lower loan loss provisions.

It said net interest income for the nine months dipped to RM2.94 billion from RM2.95 billion a year ago, while pre-tax profit rose to RM1.95 billion from RM1.88 billion previously.

In a statement to the stock exchange, the bank attributed the higher pre-tax profit to lower loan loss and provisions, which fell 22.6 percent year-on-year to RM722.42 million.

For the nine months to March, it said it continued to record strong loans growth and improvement in asset quality which was reflected by a further decline in its group non-performing loans to 6.8 percent as at end-March, down from 7.25 percent at end-December.

Chip-based ATM cards

It said its insurance unit showed improved performance but its investment banking arm was hit by weak equity markets and its finance division affected by narrowing interest margins o­n hire purchase loans.

But Maybank said its net profit for the March quarter fell nearly 19 percent to RM468.57 million due to higher tax rates.

At the bank level, it said pre-tax profit in the third quarter fell to RM499.50 million, from RM609.04 million last year, due to lower dividends from subsidiaries and higher overhead expenses following the introduction of chip-based ATM cards.

Looking forward, the top bank said it expected to maintain its satisfactory results for the rest of the year.