ABA Bank – a subsidiary of the National Bank of Canada has posted a $45 million net profit – rising 39% from Q2 2020. The Bank’s customer base in the second quarter grew by another 10% and the number of ABA customers’ accounts reached 1.7 million.
The Bank posted a record $47.5 million in first-quarter net profit bringing a total of $93 million since the beginning of the year.
According to the Bank these results rest upon the Bank’s leverage on its state-of-art digital banking and self-banking platforms. These platforms provided ABA customers with solid and reliable access to their accounts, especially during lockdown when some branches were forced to close.
The Bank revealed that as of the second quarter of 2021, there were 13,806 restructured loans worth $704 million outstanding. The share of restructured loans in the total portfolio stood at 16%.
“To play its essential part in supporting borrowers severely affected by the pandemic crisis, ABA continued restructuring the loans following the National Bank of Cambodia guidelines,” ABA Bank Chairman Yves Jacquot stated.
“At the same time, the restructured loans are of good quality, as more than 75% of them requested the grace period for the loan principal only and continue to pay the interest. ABA will continue helping its borrowers to overcome the time of hardship through its Loan Restructuring Policy,” he added.
Earlier this year the National Bank of Cambodia extended its loan restructuring scheme until December 31 2021. Adding, for customers who are living in the lockdown areas or restricted traveling areas the previous three-time limit has also been removed.
The Bank owns the long-term issuer credit rating “B+” with Stable outlook from Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings Agency (S&P).
ABA corporate bonds (assigned the “ABAA22A” symbol) were listed in August 2019. They were the first offer of debt securities from a commercial bank in Cambodia.
That issue was also the first Cambodian bond with a “B” rating, which was later upgraded to a “B+”, by the S&P Global rating agency. The rating was reaffirmed in December 2020.
It was the first bond available for institutional and retail investors. The bonds were issued for the total amount of 84.821 billion riels (around $21 million), with a maturity date of three years, paying a coupon of 7.75 percent per annum.
In 2019, National Bank of Canada reported it had signed a deal to pay $83.5 million to buy the remaining 10 percent of shares not under its ownership following its 2016 purchase of a 90% stake in the Bank.
