BANK Rakyat Group recorded a net profit of RM1.15 bil for the year ended December 2019 and a profit before tax and zakat of RM1.79 bil, amid a challenging year.
The steady performance was achieved through a higher year-on-year net income of 3.26% due to growth in core operating income and a lower year-on-year funding cost of 1.62% following the cut in the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) in the second half of 2019.
Chief executive officer, Datuk Rosman Mohamed said the good performance was also achieved via strong fundamentals and being focused on core activities as well as on-going initiatives on increasing current accounts and savings account (CASA).
He said the group’s total assets grew 2.6% to RM109.62 bil in 2019, with year-on-year growth mainly contributed by financing and advances of 2.8% to RM70.97 bil.
Return on Assets (ROA) during the year remained healthy, at 1.7% per cent, well above the domestic banking industry of 1.6%.
In 2019, its gross financing balance grew to RM72.42 bil, despite the intense competition, benefitting the diversification of portfolios, mainly from home, car and business financing.
Bank Rakyat financing grew 12.3% to RM6.65 bil compared to RM5.92 bil previously, while car financing up 11.2% to RM3.08 bil.
In addition, business financing, especially the cooperative segment was nine per cent higher at RM2.42 bil from RM2.22 bil previously.
“As part of diversification on other portfolios, personal financing balance stood at RM55.53 bil, increase moderately by 1.2% or RM0.65 bil, in line with the group’s long-term strategy to reduce overall dependency on personal financing,” he said.
Rosman said the group’s deposits stood at RM83.83 bil in 2019 from RM82.74 bil previously. while CASA balances improved significantly at 15.1% to RM6.60 bil for the year.
“Bank Rakyat will continue to focus on internal restructuring, especially to harness the potential of business exploration and operations to create long-term value for shareholders.
“Next, Bank Rakyat will implement six frameworks namely Digitalisation, Best Customer Experience, Human Capital, Small and Medium Enterprise Value Creation Center (SME), Sustainability and Shariah Leadership which will be key to realising BR25 (Bank Rakyat 2025) aspirations, ” Rosman added. – March 28, 2020, Bernama
