In a Bursa Malaysia filing today, the bank said the growth was primarily driven by elevated revenue offset by higher operating expenses and allowances for expected credit losses.

Revenue in Q1 increased by 15.8% to RM539.78 million versus RM466.26 million previously.

The bank said its net interest income grew 15.8% to RM464.7 million, driven by higher loan volume, while the net interest margin was 2.45%.

“The non-interest income rose 15.7% to RM75.1 million, primarily from higher wealth management income, foreign exchange sales, and trade fees, while the cost-to-income ratio stood at 48%,” it said.

Alliance Bank said overall loan momentum continued with a 14.8% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth, representing almost double that of the 7.9% growth recorded in Q1 FY2024.

“The positive performance was led by the bank’s small and medium enterprise (17.1% y-o-y), commercial (17.5% y-o-y), corporate (9.7% y-o-y), and consumer (14% y-o-y) banking growth.

“Alliance Bank’s funding is healthy, with customer deposits growing 11.6% y-o-y, (while) the current/savings account (CASA) ratio remains one of the industry’s highest at 41.5%,” it said.

Meanwhile, the Q1 FY2025 net credit cost was 8.1 basis points, while the bank’s loan loss coverage ratio was at 111.6%.

“The bank remains well-capitalised with a common equity tier-1 ratio of 12.2% and a total capital ratio of 16.4%.

“In terms of liquidity position, Alliance Bank is resilient with a liquidity coverage ratio of 163% and the loan-to-fund ratio of 88.2%,” it said.

Moving forward, the bank anticipated maintaining a positive financial performance and remained committed to realising growth objectives under its ‘Acceler8’ strategy”.

“With prudent loan growth above the industry average, strong credit risk management practices, strengthening of our deposit and CASA propositions, as well as investments in technology, the group aims to continue its growth momentum in FY2025,” it added.

As at 3.30pm, Alliance Bank’s share price was down by 3 sen or 0.67% at RM4.42, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM6.84 billion.