SCB reports 4.2% year-on-year rise in net profit for Q3

The third quarter marked the 10th consecutive quarter of earnings. This year-on-year increase was driven by a substantial decline in interest expenses, higher net fee income and lower loan loss provisions, although the profit was partially reduced by lower dividends compared with the same period last year.

For the first nine months, SCB posted net profit of Bt41.104 billion against Bt38.48 billion a year earlier.

Lending in the third quarter dropped by 0.5 per cent from the previous quarter. As a result, in the first nine months, SCB’s outstanding loans stood at Bt1.72 trillion, down by 0.57 per cent from the end of last year.

Non-performing loans in the third quarter stabilised at 2.11 per cent, but this was an increase of 0.03 percentage point compared with the same quarter last year.

Net interest income in the third quarter soared by 10.5 per cent year on year to Bt20.84 billion. This increase was mainly the result of lower interest expenses on deposits, following on from the bank’s strategy to reduce its deposit costs relative to its peer group.

In line with the bank’s 2014 strategy, non-interest expenses decreased 3.4 per cent and the cost-to-income ratio in the third quarter stood at 37.6 per cent, lower than the 38.4-per-cent level a year earlier.

“The bank changed its strategy for the year to make the most of the near-term opportunities available in terms of reducing the cost of deposits and operating expenditure,” said Vichit Suraphongchai, chairman of the bank’s executive committee. “At the same time, we intensified our efforts to establish a new platform that accelerates our future build-up as the Thai economy recovers in the year ahead.”