This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on May 24, 2019

KUALA LUMPUR: BIMB Holdings Bhd recorded a 17.65% rise in its net profit for the first quarter ended March 31, 2019 (1QFY19) to a record high of RM202.52 million, from RM172.14 million in the same quarter a year ago, as both its Islamic banking and takaful business saw improvements.

Quarterly revenue rose 18.4% to RM1.18 billion — also an all-time quarterly high based on Bloomberg data — from RM999.36 billion in the previous year’s corresponding quarter, the group’s stock exchange filing yesterday showed.

BIMB said its strong performance was backed by growth in its Islamic banking segment under Bank Islam Group and the takaful segment under Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Keluarga Bhd, in which BIMB has a 59.45% stake.

Bank Islam recorded a profit before zakat and tax (PBZT) of RM219.9 million, up 6.1% year-on-year, mainly due to higher total net income, as gross fund based income grew 12.5% on growth in net financing assets, while non-fund based income grew 37.3%.

“The bank’s capital position continued to be healthy, with total capital ratio of 17.7%, compared to 16.9% a year ago.

“For the rest of 2019, Bank Islam will continue to focus on its three-year strategic plan to deliver sustainable performance based on the principles of value-based intermediation,” said BIMB in a statement.

Syarikat Takaful, meanwhile, reported a 33.5% growth in PBZT to RM113.3 million, mainly from higher net wakalah fee income due to growth in the family takaful segment.