Harison White
ABA Bank has posted a record after tax profit of $212 million for 2021, an increase of 40% compared to $151 million 2020 with strong deposit growth and digital banking infrastructure also revealing it has $710 million in restructured loans.
In a quarterly statement filed to the Cambodia Securities Exchange this week Yves Jacquot Chairman of ABA said: “These results rest primarily upon the Bank’s leverage on its advanced digital banking and self-banking platforms.
On the funding side, the deposit portfolio grew up to $6.3 billion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, representing a 6% growth quarter on quarter.
More customers choose ABA as their bank, so the customer base in the fourth quarter grew by another 12%, and the number of ABA customers’ accounts reached 2.1 million.”
$700M+ in restructured loans
In the report, the bank outlined it had restructured 13,905 loans with $710 million outstanding representing 13% of total loan portfolio. According to ABA it considers the restructured loans to be of “good quality” since almost 84% of them requested the grace period for the loan principal only and continue to pay the interest.
ABA added it will continue helping its clients to overcome the time of hardship through its Loan Restructuring Policy, in line with the Royal Government efforts to support local entrepreneurship
Cambodia Investment Review has previously reported that the National Bank of Cambodia will continue allowing financial institutions to restructure loans until June 30 this year – but will now classify them as non-performing after multiple restructures.
The NBC said while loans that are deemed ‘non-viable’ shall be classified as a loss at the full amount of loan value. For customers that have not been restructured before and are impacted by COVID-19 this shall not be classified as non-performing.
Investment in self-banking infrastructure proving profitable
ABA Bank is considered by many to be leading the current digital transformation in Cambodia’s finance sector – with a widely used mobile payment application.
In the report the bank said it continued improving the mobile banking app experience, launched Tax Collection on its Internet Banking for Business (IBB) platform, introduced card less cash withdrawal via QR code at its ATMs and Cash Recycling Machines.
In the fourth quarter it launched four new ABA 24/7 self-banking spots to offer customers a more convenient way to access their accounts at any time of the day without queueing at the branches.
ABA added it delivered $6.9 million of taxes in the state budget in Q4 2021 alone. For the whole year, the tax payments equaled $61.5 million. ABA’s strong commitment to the country’s progress can also be seen in employing almost 7,000 professional local staff at 81 branches and outlets, constantly investing in staff training and development, it said.
ABA Banks owns the long-term issuer credit rating “B+” with Stable outlook from Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings Agency (S&P). The rating was reaffirmed in 2021.
