I’ll keep it simple. Here are a couple of key takeaways from Malaysia’s top 9 banks (HLB, AMMB, RHB Bank, Affin Bank, Public Bank, Bank Islam, CIMB, Alliance, and Maybank) in FY-2023.

Revenues  

✅ Net revenues declined by 1.6% YoY (year-on-year) from USD 19.2 billion in FY-2022 to USD 18.9 billion in FY-2023

📈 6.1% decline in net interest income from USD 14.7 billion to USD 13.8 billion

📈 21.1% increase in non-interest income from USD 4.2 billion to USD 5.1 billion

🏦 Bank Islam reported the highest revenue growth (7.2% YoY), growing from USD 507 million in FY-2022 to USD 544 million in FY-2023

This growth was primarily driven by a 75.9% increase in its non-interest income from USD 51 million to USD 89 million. This was primarily due to its 214.5% increase in investment income to reach USD 13.8 million and 146.7% increase in unit trust income to reach USD 2.5 million.  

Still, it must be noted that this was not enough to offset the overall decline faced by Malaysia’s top 9 banks. Regardless, their noteworthy performance in maintaining strong profitability and fee-based incomes demonstrates their continued resilience to be a top competitor.

Profitability

✅ Net profits grew by 6% YoY from USD 6.9 billion in FY-2022 to USD 7.3 billion in FY-2023

🏦 Maybank reported the highest net profit growth at 13.5% YoY

All banks reported an increase in their net profits, except for Alliance, RHB and Affin Bank which declined by 1.2%, 5.4% and 66.6%, respectively.  

Fee-based income

✅ Fee incomes grew by 3.6% YoY from USD 2.3 billion in FY-2022 to USD 2.4 billion in FY-2023  

🏦 Alliance Bank reported the highest increase in fee income at 13.4% YoY, growing from USD 27.8 million to USD 31.5 million in FY-2023

This growth can be attributed to 2 key factors:  

163.1% increase in the bank’s processing fees from USD 1.7 million to USD 4.6 million in FY-2023

251.38% increase in the bank’s other fee income from USD 1.3 million to USD 4.6 million in FY-2023

This tremendous success from Alliance Bank exemplifies how their hard-earned efforts to invest in these sectors have paid off for their overall growth. Following closely behind their success is AMMB. Experiencing the second-highest growth at 10.6%, AMMB grew its fee income from USD 126.5 million to USD 139.9 million.