HONG KONG, Feb 28 (Reuters) – CIMB Group Holdings Bhd , the second-largest lender by assets in Malaysia, on Tuesday reported a 3.5 percent increase in fourth-quarter net profit, helped by a surge in loan demand in its home market as well as in Indonesia and Thailand.
The bank’s net profit for the quarter ended in December 2016 was 854.4 million ringgit ($ 192.21 million), up from 825.7 million ringgit a year earlier, the lender said in a filing to the stock exchange.
Malaysian lenders including Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) , the country’s largest lender by assets, and CIMB have benefited from cost cutting and stronger demand for corporate loans in the domestic market.
Maybank last week reported a 43 percent rise in fourth-quarter profit on loan growth and a rise in investment income, and forecast stronger loan growth in its core markets of Malaysia and Indonesia.
($ 1 = 4.4430 ringgit) (Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Stephen Coates)
