KUALA LUMPUR: Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd
(Alliance Bank) expects healthy loan growth between eight per cent and 10 per cent for the financial year 2025 (FY2025), driven by its small and medium enterprise, corporate and consumer banking segments.
Alliance Bank group chief executive officer Kellee Kam said the bank is poised for strong growth as it sees favourable economic conditions in the country during the first half of 2024.
"In the first two quarters, Malaysia’s gross domestic product grew pretty rapidly. Now, there are also further opportunities from the foreign direct investments that have been approved as well as the increase in tourism and very low unemployment rates.
"There is strong demand and recovery in the country’s manufacturing and agriculture sectors, and we do believe that FY2025 should continue to have a good demand for banking sector loan growth,” he told reporters in the Alliance Bank’s 42nd Annual General Meeting online press conference here today.
Kam said the business environment has been increasingly favourable for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to have access to loans, not just directly through banks but also through various government initiatives.
Earlier, Alliance Bank posted a higher net profit of RM690.47 million for the financial year ended March 31, 2024 (FY2024) from RM677.84 million in the previous year, while revenue increased to RM2.02 billion from RM1.91 billion previously.
Total gross loans grew 13.6 per cent to RM55.7 billion, attributed to strong performance across all segments.
On prospects, Kam said Alliance Bank is cautiously optimistic amid favourable economic conditions.
"Notwithstanding that, we are cautious that the external environment as well as geopolitical issues may still represent potential macro stress to interest rates and financial markets, so we still remain vigilant and agile in the way we look at the markets going forward,” he said.
In a separate statement, he said going into FY2025, Acceler8 will continue to drive Alliance Bank’s vision towards becoming The Preferred Banking Partner, guiding the bank towards its ambitious FY2027 financial
and non-financial targets.
Launched in January 2023, the Acceler8 strategy is a four-year roadmap designed to drive sustainable growth and enhance value creation for all stakeholders.
"Our robust performance across key financial and non-financial metrics underscores the positive direction and momentum of our Acceler8 transformation strategy.
"In our endeavour to become ‘The Bank For Life’ for our customers, we strive to continuously innovate and enhance our offerings to deliver timely, convenient, and personalised solutions tailored to their needs throughout their entire lifetime,” Kelle added. - Bernama
