SCB reports another strong quarter

The main drivers were a substantial gain on investment and cost-of-funds management, SCB said in a statement yesterday.

Non-interest income rose 10.9 per cent mainly from the divestment of the bank’s 60.86-per-cent holding in Siam Commercial Samaggi Insurance as well as higher net fee income.

In the first half, net profit increased 8.1 per cent year on year to Bt27.9 billion, but lending still dropped 0.1 per cent to Bt1.73 trillion from the end of last year. Its non-performing-loan (NPL) ratio stayed at 2.11 per cent, unchanged from the first quarter, but was up by 0.04 percentage point from the same quarter a year before.

The bank set loan loss provisions of Bt3.2 billion in the second quarter to keep its coverage ratio at a robust 141 per cent of NPLs.

Meanwhile, Bangkok Bank reported an increase of 0.7 per cent quarter on quarter in consolidated second-quarter net profit to Bt9 billion.

Total loans advanced 0.7 per cent from the end of last year to Bt1.76 trillion. Mortgages and loans to small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as loans made through the bank’s international network, continued to rise in line with the bank’s targets.

As the economic slowdown was giving some customers a hard time, NPLs at the end of June amounted to Bt45 billion, an increase of Bt1.8 billion from the end of 2013 but at a similar level to the end of March.

This was equivalent to 2.3 per cent of total loans, compared with 2.2 per cent at both the end of last year and the end of March.

Kasikornbank reported consolidated second-quarter net profit of Bt11.73 billion, a decrease of 1.7 per cent over the previous quarter but an increase of 6.8 per cent from Bt10.98 billion year on year.

KBank enjoyed loan growth of 2.2 per cent in the first six months and its net interest margin stood at 3.7 per cent.

In the first six months, KBank reported a rise of 2.3 per cent year on year in net profit to Bt23.67 billion.