ACLEDA Bank Plc, commercial bank in Cambodia, has announced a strong third-quarter performance for profit and asset growth in its interim financial report released by the Cambodia Securities Exchange yesterday.
According to the report reviewed by KPMG, for the third quarter of 2020 the company recorded total revenue of 584,246 million riels ($142.8 million) and profit after tax of 141,946 million riels ($34.7 million).
The results represent a profit after tax increase of approximately 24 percent – 26,982 million riels ($6.5 million) – compared with the same period last year.
As of Sept 30, ACLEDA Bank has total assets of 26.10 trillion riels ($6.3 billion) which increased by 933.23 billion riels ($228.2 million), equivalent to 3.71 percent compared with the period ending December 2019.
Its total equity of 4.29 trillion riels ($1.04 billion) increased by 361.57 billion riels ($88.4 million), equivalent to 9.20 percent, also compared with the period ending December 2019.
ACLEDA Bank Chairman Chhay Souen said in the report: “We are pleased with our performance and strategic progress followed the bank’s business strategies which achieved positive results this quarter.”
He also outlined that the number of public investors in the company has increased as the banks share price rose to around 17,200 riels a share yesterday on the back of the strong quarterly results.
“According to the bank’s records, public investors of the bank increased by 33.57 percent from 2,496 to 3,334 starting from the listing date up to the end of Q3 2020, which demonstrates that public investors still continue to invest their funds confidently during the COVID-19 crisis,” he said.
ACLEDA’s Executive Vice-President and Group Chief Financial officer Mar Amara said the bank has continued to grow under the policy direction of the National Bank of Cambodia as well as the Government.
She said, both the central bank and the government have encouraged the bank to continue to provide loans to all sectors, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
“We have seen good growth in the SME segment for loans which have increased by 7 percent compared with the end of 2019 because the interest rate offered has dropped,” she added.
In addition, to support banking and financial institutions to have more liquidity to meet their capital needs, in June this year the central bank also eased some financial ratios required to be held such as public funds, the capital conservation buffer and reserve requirements, Amara said.
Amara also said the strong growth has been assisted by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, which has reduced the withholding tax on both foreign loans as well as creating more liquidity in low-cost markets.
“These are all factors that have led the bank to maintain profit growth,” Amara said.
ACLEDA Bank is currently Cambodia’s largest bank in terms of gross loans and network of
distribution channels. It has 12,119 employees.
This article was first published in Khmer Times. All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
