First-half net profit of 10 listed commercial banks increases over 15%
Ten commercial banks listed in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) generated total net profit of 121.91 billion baht in the first half of this year, up 15.24% compared to 105.79 billion last year.
LH Financial Group (LHFG), Bangkok Bank (BBL), TMBThanachart Bank (TTB), Krungthai Bank (KTB), Siam Commercial Bank (SCB), Bank of Ayudhya (BAY), Tisco Bank (Tisco), Kasikornbank (KBank), Kiatnakin Phatra Bank (KKP) and CIMB Thai Bank (CIMBT) reported an average 18.41% increase in interest revenue and a 6.8% increase in non-interest revenue.
LHFG, BBL, TTB, KTB, SCB, BAY and Tisco generated first-half net profit higher than the previous year, while KBank, KKP and CIMBT saw a decline year on year.
Pi Securities assistant managing director Thanadet Rangsithananon said Thai commercial banks still faced many challenges, including political issues, debt quality, measures to tackle household debt and foreign factors.
He expects the commercial banks' second-half net profit to drop by 12-15% compared to the first half due to operation expenses in the fourth quarter, such as marketing, information technology investment and bonus payment.
He also expects the banks' interest revenue to increase in the second half on the interest rate hike and loan market growth.
Three banks with the potential to generate high-interest revenue are KBank, SCB and BBL, he said, adding that non-interest revenue would not rise much due to a decline in service fee.
Meanwhile, Kasikorn Research Centre's research executive Kanchana Chokpaisarnsilp said all banks were still able to manage debt effectively.
She said the banks’ move to increase reserves to 56.47 billion baht in the second quarter, up 20.4% year on year, reflects an awareness of uncertainties. She also expects the banks' reserves to remain high in the second half of this year.
