BANKS' NET PROFITS JUMP IN Q3

       Most banks delivered stunning net profits in the third quarter due mainly to decline in funding and operating costs and increase in fee income.
       Bank of Ayudhya was the best performer in the third quarter. Its consolidated quarterly net profit jumped 114 per cent year-on-year to Bt2.18 billion, thanks to a 135per cent surge in non-interest income.
       "Although loan portfolio remained flat as a result of the weak economy, net interest and dividend income increased 2 per cent while noninterest expenses grew only 7 per cent. The bank's costtoincome ratio thus improved markedly from 61 per cent down to 52 per cent," the bank's president and chief executive officer, Tan Kong Khoon, said in a statement.
       For the ninemonth period ended September 30, the bank recorded a consolidated net profit of Bt4.96 billion, a 22-per-cent year-on-year increase.
       The improved ninemonth earnings could be ascribed to a 55-per-cent increase in noninterest income, and a 2percent increase in net interest and dividend income.
       The thirdquarter earnings of four small-sized banks - ACL Bank, Thanachart Capital, Tisco Financial Group, and Kiatnakin Bank - grew more than 10 per cent.
       ACL Bank showed an 80.94-per-cent year-on-year increase in its third-quarter financial results to Bt234.58 million while its ninemonth net profit soared 39.71 per cent from the same period last year to Bt448.66 million.
       Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) reported unaudited consolidated third-quarter net profit of Bt5.2 bilฌlion, up 7.7 per cent from the same period last year, because its noninterest income shot up 30.1 per cent, mainly from fee income and investment profit. The slight increase of 1.4 per cent yearonyear in its expenditures also gave the bank's quarterly earnings a boost.
       Non-performing loan (NPL) decreased to 4.7 per cent of outstanding credit as at the end of September from 5.2 per cent at the end of last year.
       However, the bank's net profit during the first nine months this year was down by 8.3 per cent to Bt15.98 billion from Bt17.43 billion during the same period last year.
       Vichit Suraphongchai, chief executive officer of SCB, said the main factor boosting the net profits of the bank was fee income, especially from the creditcard business, bancassurance, and mutual funds.
       Fee income in the third quarter was Bt4.85 billion, up 12.8 per cent on year.
       State-owned Krung Thai Bank (KTB)'s thirdquarter net profit was Bt4.25 billion, up 9.5 per cent from Bt3.88 billion in the third quarter of last year. The net profit in the first nine months of this year was at Bt9.47 billion, decreasing by 4.7 per cent from Bt9.94 billion from the same period of last year.
       CIMB Thai Bank's quarterly net profit amounted to Bt461 million, down 54.3 per cent from the same period last year to Bt10.09 billion. However, the bank had a net loss of Bt40 billion for the first nine months this year, compared with a net loss of Bt974 million in the same period last year.
       Subhak Siwaraksa, president and CEO of CIMB Thai Bank, said yesterday that the bank's netinterest margin (NIM) widened from 2 per cent to 2.4 per cent in the third quarter this year because the bank's deposits fell to Bt97 billion from Bt160 billion at the end of last year.
       The bank expected to restructure its deposits by increasing current and savings accounts to 50 per cent of total from the current 25 per cent. As a result, the bank's NIM was expected to widen further.
       He said the bank was expected to record net profit in hundreds of millions of baht and be able to pay dividend from this year's earnings.
       The country's largest bank by assets, Bangkok Bank (BBL) announced that its third quarter net profit of Bt5.07 billion was up 17.45 per cent on year from Bt4.32 billion in the same period last year.
       Higher fee income and lower operating costs were the main reasons for the improved earnings.
       For the first nine months, BBL reported net profits of Bt14.8 billion, marginally down by 1.2 per cent from the same period of last year.
       Kasikornbank recorded net profit of Bt3.72 billion in the third quarter, down 3 per cent from the same period of last year at Bt3.84 billion.
       Meanwhile, its net profit for the first nine months dropped 10.5 per cent yearonyear to Bt11.22 billion.
       TMB Bank reported net profit of Bt526 million in the third quarter of this year, down 68 per cent from Bt1.66 billion in the third quarter of last year.
       For the first nine months of this year, the bank's net profit was Bt1.36 billion, down 69 per cent from Bt4.41 billion in the same period last year.