Acting chairman Mohd Irwan Mubarak said the increase in profit was driven by the bank’s strong fundamentals and its focus on core activities despite the economic uncertainties post-pandemic.
“The financial performance in FY2022 was also supported by the group’s financing and investment activities.
“Besides that, adequate provisioning during the year, in line with industry trend, had also boosted the group’s performance,” he said during the announcement of the group’s financial performance and dividend for FY2022 today.
Also present was entrepreneur development and cooperatives minister Ewon Benedick.
The group’s core operating income rose 3.42% to RM5.9 billion from RM5.71 billion previously as a result of stronger financing growth in both retail and business financing segments.
Bank Rakyat also announced a dividend of 15% with a payout totalling RM426.77 million, payable from March 30, 2023 to its 799,511 members.
The group’s better performance was further supported by higher fee-based income and collection from charge-off financing recovery which improved by 24.1% to RM440.79 million from RM355.19 million previously.
The bank demonstrated discipline and efficiency in cost management, which were reflected in its healthy cost-to-income ratio of 39.79%, and was much lower than the industry average of 44.20%.
The group’s total assets grew 1.98% or RM2.27 billion to RM117.33 billion compared to RM115.06 billion in the preceding financial year.
Mohd Irwan said the continuous growth momentum was mainly driven by positive traction in gross financing and supported by net growth in treasury assets, corresponding with the group’s strategy throughout the year.
Meanwhile, return on assets improved to 1.45% from 1.4% in tandem with industry trend.
Its current account savings account (Casa) increased by 2.84% to RM9.49 billion as compared to RM9.23 billion previously, which resulted from the aggressive cash management activities as well as the continuous promotions in FY2022.
The Casa ratio remained stable at 11.14% and is aligned with the group’s five-year strategic plan aspiration (BR25).
Shareholders’ funds increased 4.15% or RM0.89 billion to RM22.55 billion compared with RM21.66 billion in the preceding year, contributed by the group’s net profit carried forward during the year.
Meanwhile, Ewon said Bank Rakyat would continue to support its annual mandate for the cooperative ecosystem by contributing 2% of its profit before tax and zakat amounting to RM33.57 million to the Cooperative Education Trust Fund.
Another 1% amounting to RM16.78 million will also be contributed to the Cooperative Development Trust Fund, he added.