Maybank's third quarter profit up 18 percent

Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) reported an 18 percent rise in quarterly net profit as Malaysia's largest lender by assets benefited from the sale of its Papua New Guinea operations. Profit for July-September rose to 1.90 billion ringgit ($449 million) from 1.61 billion ringgit a year earlier, Maybank said. Net interest income rose to a record 2.9 billion ringgit, while revenue climbed 27.4 percent to 11.38 billion ringgit.
"Given the expected headwinds that will remain in the coming year, we will also re-double our efforts to raise operational and capital efficiencies, as well as leverage growth opportunities throughout this region," Abdul Farid Alias, Maybank's group CEO said in a statement.
Maybank, which is also Southeast Asia's fourth-biggest bank, faces a challenging environment this year as economic growth slows and currencies depreciate. At home, the lender expects private consumption growth to weaken due to the implementation of a goods and services tax (GST) in April and high household leverage.
Recently, smaller rival CIMB Group Holdings Bhd reported a 9.7 percent decline in quarterly net profit.