Mr. Paul Wong Chee Kin, President and Chief Executive Officer, CIMB Thai Bank PCL commented on the unaudited consolidated financial results for the year ended 31 December 2022. For this period, CIMB Thai Group recorded a consolidated net profit of THB 3,033.1 million, an increase of THB 592.5 million or 24.3% year-on-year (“YoY”) compared to 2021. The improvement was mainly attributed to better cost control and a significant decrease of 39.4% in expected credit losses due to lower impairments of assets, despite a marginal decrease in operating income.
On a YoY basis, operating income declined by THB 406.5 million, or 2.9% to THB 13,753.5 million from the contraction in net interest income of THB 346.0 million or 3.5% due to higher interest expenses, coupled with lower interest income on loans, as well as hire purchase business. Other operating income recorded lower by THB 107.9 million or 3.9%, mainly from a decrease in gains on sale of investments. These were partially offset by an increase of THB 47.5 million or 3.4% in net fee and service income, driven by higher underwriting fee income.
For the year ended 31 December 2022, operating expenses remained flat from continued cost management, while cost to income ratio was higher at 57.1% in 2022 compared to 55.5% in 2021 due to lower operating income.
Net interest margin (NIM) over earning assets stood at 2.7% in 2022, compared to 3.1% in 2021, arising from higher cost of funds and lower loan yields.
As at 31 December 2022, total gross loans (inclusive of loans guaranteed by other banks and loans to financial institutions) stood at THB 235.3 billion, an increase of 11.0% from 31 December 2021. Deposits (inclusive of bills of exchange, debentures and selected structured deposit products) stood at THB 289.7 billion, an increase of 21.0% from THB 239.5 billion as at end of December 2021. The modified loan to deposit ratio decreased to 81.2% from 88.5% as at 31 December 2021.
