Maybank profits down 3.5% to $471.31m in Q3

It was hit by the profit decline in the insurance division over higher contract liabilities.

Maybank’s profit dropped 3.5% YoY to $471.31m (RM1.96b) in Q3, UOB Kay Hian (UOBKH) said. On a QoQ basis, the bank's profit rose by a marginal 0.1%.

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The quarterly earnings slowdown was dragged by the 5bps compression in net interest margin (NIM) which hit net interest income as well as a 7.1% drop in net fee income due to lower commission and brokerage income.

Maybank also booked a 6.5% drop in trading and treasury income fueled by the more volatile capital market paired by the 8% hike in provision.

“On a 9M 2018 comparison, revenue trends were also flattish while pre-provision operating profit expanded 4.6% YoY on strong cost discipline,” analyst Keith Wee Teck Keong said in a report.

Despite the slide in quarterly earnings, Keong noted that Maybank’s strong operating cost discipline buoyed the 7.4% YoY growth in opex to partially buffer the weak revenue and higher provision trends in Q3.

Gross impared loans (GIL) balance also held stable at 2.65% in Q3 compared to 2.64% in Q2.