The group’s interest income for the quarter rose in tandem by 41.4% to RM2.23 billion from RM1.58 billion a year ago.
Its earnings per share rose to 17.93 sen from 14.06 sen.
In a Bursa filing today, the bank said the year-on-year (y-o-y) improvement was mainly due to higher non-fund-based income, lower allowances for credit losses, offset by lower net funding income and higher operating expenses.
The group saw minor increases in operating expenses (3.1%) y-o-y as well as in total assets (0.5%) to RM312.4 billion.
The bank also got a boost from an upgrade by Moody’s Investors Service for the bank’s baseline credit assessment (BCA), from Baa2 to Baa1.
RHB’s gross impaired loans stood at RM3.4 billion as of March 31, 2023 with a gross impaired loans ratio of 1.59% compared with RM3 billion and 1.5%, respectively, as at March 31, 2021.
“Our capital position remained strong; the group’s common equity tier-1 (CET-1) and total capital ratio stood at 16.9% and 19.7% respectively,” said RHB.
Its gross loans and financing grew 6% y-o-y to RM213.4 billion, supported by growth in mortgage, auto finance, small and medium-sized enterprises, and Singapore. The bank’s domestic loans and financing grew 4.7% y-o-y.
RHB said customer deposits remained stable at RM226.4 billion, with current account and savings account (Casa) falling by 2.9% y-o-y, offset by growth in fixed deposits and money market time deposits by 1.2%.
Segment-wise, its international business – largely in Singapore and Cambodia – saw strong growth, posting a 216.6% increase in pre-tax profit y-o-y to RM66.5 million.
“The group remains focused on strengthening our balance sheet and will continue to uphold our strong capital and liquidity positions. Our prudent management stance has put us in good stead, as reflected by the baseline credit assessment upgrade,” RHB said.
In a separate statement, RHB Bank group managing director and group CEO Rashid Mohamad said the group remains focused on strengthening its balance sheet and will continue to uphold its strong capital and liquidity positions.
The bank said it would continue to support financial inclusivity via the Kad Prihatin Siswa (KPS) project in collaboration with the higher education ministry.
As the sole banking partner in the project, RHB will roll out specially designed debit cards that double as university matriculation identification cards.
The goal is to provide cards for 1.2 million students by 2026. As of Q1 2023, approximately 438,000 students from 17 public universities have opened accounts under the programme.
RHB’s share price closed flat at RM5.46, giving it a market capitalisation of RM23.4 billion.