“KTB had a net profit of Bt6.35 billion, down 18.9 per cent from the same period last year,” he said. He explained that the reason for the lower net profit was the bank’s setting aside of Bt2.37 billion as reserve fund for employees who wished to retire early.”

Payong was referring to the latest State Enterprise Labour Committee’s announcement that requires state enterprises to pay early retirement package equal to 400 days of wages to employees who had been working more than 20 years. The regulation came into effect at the start of the third quarter.

“If we were to exclude the provision for the reserve fund, KTB’s profit actually increased by 5.3 per cent from last year,” said Payong. “Our operational revenue reached Bt94.02 billion, a 7.1 per cent increase over last year, while revenue from loans rose by 5.6 per cent over last year.”

Payong also added that as of September 30, KTB’s coverage ratio increased from 125.74 per cent as of the end of last year to 128.07 per cent. The nonperforming loans (NPL) gross ratio is at 4.58 per cent while NPLs ratio-net is at 1.92 per cent. “These numbers point to our strong standing in keeping with the standards set by the Bank of Thailand,” he said.

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Praphan Anupongongarch, TBank’s chief executive officer and president, said the bank and its subsidiaries have delivered record bottomline results in the third quarter of this year.

For the nine months ending September 30, the bank’s consolidated net profit was Bt11.296 billion, improving 1.40 per cent year-on-year, while pre-tax earnings grew 11.40 per cent.

The continued improvement was mainly attributabed to the expansion and diversification of revenue streams, combined with prudent risk and expense management.

The earnings were mainly from a 9.6-per-cent rise in net fees and service income, driven by higher fees from Bancassurance and mutual funds in line with the bank’s strategic intent.

Net income from interest dropped slightly by 1.7 per cent due to a contraction in loans, while the net interest margin stood at 2.35 per cent.

The bank has continued to focus on prudent control over credit underwriting and risk-management to ensure loan quality and maintain appropriate allowance for doubtful accounts.

The company’s executive Utai Rungkam told Thansetakij newspaper that Erb-Im’s chili snacks are already earning a following in foreign countries, adding that traders from the US, Cambodia, China and India have also approached the company.

She added that the company will promote its products online as well as sell through modern trade outlets. Its snack products are currently available in major supermarkets retail stores such as Big-C and Tops.

Currently, 80 per cent of the company’s total revenue comes from OEM and the rest from the Erb-Im brand. She expects a total revenue growth of 30 per cent this year, thanks to a greater focus on OEM and online sales.

According to its statement, Thailand is an important market on Alibaba’s globalisation journey, and it aspires to keep people in Thailand abreast of its developments. It also aims to present news and articles that readers may find inspiring and helpful.

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The strong performance was attributed to significantly higher non-interest income and higher net interest income, supported by a robust loan growth of 6.4 per cent year-to-date.

Key highlights of Krungsri’s consolidated 9-month 2019 results:

• Net Profit: Recorded at Bt26.3 billion, representing a 40.7 per cent increase over the same period of 2018.

• Loan Growth: Increased strongly by 6.4 per cent, or Bt106.5 billion from December 2018.

• Deposit Growth: Increased by 4.8 per cent, or Bt68.7 billion from December 2018.

• Non-Interest Income: Significantly increased by 40 per cent, or Bt10.2 billion, from the same period of 2018, mainly driven by the recognition of gains on investments from the Ngern Tid Lor Company Limited (NTL) transaction and a share of profit from investment.

• Non-Performing Loans (NPLs): Improved to 2.01 per cent, from 2.08 per cent in December 2018.

Krungsri president and chief executive officer Seiichiro Akita said: “Despite a deceleration in the Thai economy, Krungsri delivered solid performance for the first nine months of 2019, with a robust net profit of Bt26.3 billion, representing a 40.7 per cent increase over the same period of 2018. The solid earnings were attributed to the bank’s ability to optimise our loan portfolio mix, thus resulting in steady growth in net interest income and non-interest income”.

On overall business outlook, Akita said: “Given the decelerating economy, driven mainly by a global slowdown affecting domestic demand, Krungsri anticipates the Thai economy to expand at a slower rate than previously forecasted and has revised down GDP growth projection to 2.9 per cent from 3.2 per cent”.

“Nevertheless, an accommodative monetary policy together with fiscal stimulus measures will provide support to maintain growth momentum for the final quarter. Krungsri expects the 2019 loan growth performance to be in the upper band of the bank’s target range of 6 – 8 per cent”.

As of September 30, 2019, the fifth largest bank in Thailand in terms of assets, loans and deposits, and one of Thailand’s five Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs), reported Bt1.78 trillion in loans, Bt1.5 trillion in deposits, and Bt2.27 trillion in total assets.

The bank’s capital stood at Bt263.92 billion, equivalent to 16.46 per cent of risk-weighted assets, with 11.79 per cent in common equity tier 1 capital at the end of September, 2019.

The term of its current CEO and president, Chansin Treenuchagron, will end on May 12, 2020.

The oil and gas conglomerate PTT is expected to call for applications for the position of its new head during the fourth quarter of this year.

This was a result of net profit of B10.5 billion from normal operations and a one-time capital gain from the sale of SCB Life of Bt11.6 billion. The bank set aside additional provisions of Bt9.1 billion in this quarter, on top of its normalised quarterly requirement of Bt6.2 billion.

For the first nine months of 2019, net profit stood at Bt34.9 billion, up 5.9 per cent year on year (yoy).

Despite moderate loan growth of 2.2 per cent yoy due to the slower economy, net interest income (NII) increased 7.4 per cent yoy to Bt26.2 billion in the third quarter. The bank’s proactive risk management and strategy to rebalance its loan portfolio towards higher margin products was the main reason for this NII growth.

Non-NII in the third quarter, excluding the one-time gain, was stable year on year because of resilient recurring fee income especially from lending-related activities and wealth products.

The bank’s total operating income, including the one-time gain, rose significantly by 74.1 per cent to Bt60.5 billion, which far exceeded expense growth. Consequently, the bank’s cost-to-income ratio declined to 29.1 per cent in the third quarter.

The non-performing loan (NPL) ratio rose to 3.01 per cent at the end of September 2019 from 2.77 per cent at the end of June, reflecting the current state of the economy and prevailing economic headwinds. NPL coverage ratio stood at 144 per cent in the current quarter while the Bank’s capital adequacy ratio remained strong at a record high of 18 per cent.

“In this quarter, the bank recorded a gain from the sale of SCB Life. In light of domestic economic uncertainty and global economic volatility, we foresee the need to strengthen ourselves. Thus, the bank set aside additional provisions against potential problem loans. At the same time, we also continue to pursue long-term growth opportunities particularly from wealth management and life insurance businesses where we will start the partnership with FWD Group in the fourth quarter of this year. We will also explore new investment opportunities for long-term future growth of the bank,” said Arthid Nanthawithaya, chairman of the executive committee and chief executive.