Affin Holdings aims to grow fee-based income at banking unit to 30 pct

KUALA LUMPUR: Affin Holdings Bhd, which operates Affin Bank Bhd, is aiming to increase the bank’s fee-based income to 30 per cent from the current 25 per cent by 2017.

Affin Holdings Group Chief Executive Officer Kamarul Ariffin Mohd Jamil said the bank’s fee income was mostly derived from underwriting and loan syndication as well as foreign exchange.

“Taking into account the economic challenges of last year and this year, we hope to achieve the target with completion of the group’s internal restructuring and transformation,” he told a press conference after Affin Holdings’ annual general meeting here, yesterday.

The group also planned to diversify Affin Bank’s fee-based income through the sale of unit trusts, insurance and other products, he added.

Affin Bank recorded a pretax profit of RM461.2 million for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2015 (FY15) compared with RM720.1 million in 2014, while its assets grew slightly to RM59.8 billion from RM59.5 billion a year ago.

Kamarul Ariffin said in line with Affin Bank’s efforts to improve brand visibility, a new Affin Bank branch in Kota Damansara had been launched, bringing the total number of branches to 106.

“Affin Bank is also continuously enhancing its technological capabilities to improve processes and security as well as improving its digital banking capabilities to offer seamless banking solutions,” he added.

OnAffinHoldings’outlook,he said it would focus on leveraging the strategic alliances and synergistic partnership to assist in growing the group’s revenue this year.

For FY15, the group recorded a profit before tax and zakat of RM519.3 million, down from RM806.85 million in 2014.

He said the weaker performance was due to several factors such as impairment of several large accounts made in the last financial year, as well as some additional integration and voluntary separation scheme costs. — Bernama