SCB, KBANK shine in banks' Q2 results

The net profits of 11 banks jumped 23.5 per cent to Bt44.27 billion from Bt35.84 billion in the same quarter last year.
That brought up their net profits for the first half by 16 per cent to Bt85.62 billion.
SCB’s earnings were unmatched at Bt10.07 billion in the quarter, followed by KBank with Bt9.36 billion. KrungThai Bank (KTB) turned in the best performance among large banks by driving profit up 40 per cent, while LH Financial Group showed the way among small banks with earnings growth of 39.7 per cent.
Bangkok Bank, the largest |by assets, also enjoyed good growth in quarterly net profit, up 19.8 per cent to Bt8.87 billion from Bt7.4 billion, on a 6.5-per-cent rise in net interest income to Bt13.93 billion and a 1.3-per-cent rise in net fee income to Bt4.7 billion.
CIMB Thai Bank witnessed a profit drop of 88.8 per cent to Bt28.67 million due to Bt206 million in legal claims paid to a provident fund in accordance with a recent Supreme Court ruling.
Usanee Liurut, an analyst at Asia Plus Securities, said last week that the earnings results were in line with robust loan growth. The key drivers of a bank’s profitability are interest and fee incomes.
Thanks to brisk auto sales and debt payments from flood victims, the net interest margin (NIM) fattened in the second quarter from the first quarter.
The rise in fee income was due to bancassurance, plastic cards and mutual funds.
Banks focusing on the hire purchase business showed strong net profit led by SCB, Bank of Ayudhya (BAY), Thanachart Capital, Tisco Financial Group and Kiatnakin.
In the second quarter, BAY boasted the best NIM at 4.2 per cent followed by Kiatnakin Bank at 3.7 per cent and KBank at 3.5 per cent.
Large banks can meet corporate loan growth in line with the investment and expansion of companies.
Usanee predicts the NIM in the rest of the year will not grow much because the cost of funds is expected to be stable.
Bank earnings for the second half may not climb significantly from the first half because the fourth quarter was the season for operating expenses such as bonuses, she added.