KUALA LUMPUR: Public Bank Bhd

maintained a marginally positive performance in the first nine months of 2026 as it tackled prevailing soft market conditions.

"With ongoing external headwinds, such as higher global inflationary pressure and financial market volatility continuing to pose challenges to banking business growth, the Public Bank Group will remain highly vigilant to risks as it proactively grows its business," said managing director and CEO Tan Sri Tay Ah Lek in a statement.

He added that the group was supported by sound fundamentals in its core lending and deposit businesses, while non-interest and non-financing income was underpinned by proactive customer engagement and intensified cross-selling efforts, which yielded positive results in driving the wealth management business.

In the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2026, Public Bank posted a net profit of RM1.77bil, down from RM1.84bil in the year-ago quarter. Quarterly revenue rose to RM7.74bil from RM7.42bil in the previous corresponding quarter.

According to the bank's results filing with the stock exchange, the decline in profit was mainly due to RM116.4mil increase in loans/financing impairment allowance arising from the normalisation of credit charges, RM90.8mil decrease in investment income and RM47 mil (3.7%) increase in other operating expenses.

For the cumulative nine-month period, Public Bank recorded a net profit of RM5.349bil against RM5.348bil, while revenue rose to RM22.67bil from RM22.08bil previously.

It registered a modest 1.2% increase in net interest and financing to RM8.55bil, while non-interest and non-financing income grew 7% to RM2.71bil.

Unit trust arm Public Mutual remained the largest contributor to non-interest and non-financing income with 14.9% pre-tax profit growth to RM717.3mil.

Total loans as at end-Sept 2026 rose at an annualised rate of 6.2% to RM466.5bil. Customer deposits, meanwhile, grew at an annualised rate of 4.1% to RM461bil.