KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB Group Holdings Bhd's 94.83 per cent indirectly held subsidiary, CIMB Thai Bank PCL saw net profit soar to 3.03 billion baht for the full financial year ended Dec 31, 2022 (FY2022), an increase of 24.3 per cent or 592.5 million baht versus FY2021 (100 Thai baht: RM13.07).

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia today, CIMB Thai Bank president and chief executive officer Paul Wong Chee Kin said the improvement was mainly attributed to better cost control and a significant decrease of 39.4 per cent in expected credit losses due to lower impairments of assets, despite a marginal decrease in operating income.

In FY2022, CIMB Thai's operating income declined by 2.9 per cent year-on-year (yoy) to 13.75 billion baht due to a contraction in net interest income.

Wong said other operating income was 3.9 per cent yoy lower due to a decrease in gains on sale of investments.

"These were partially offset by an increase of 3.4 per cent in net fee and service income, driven by higher underwriting fee income," he said.

For the year ended Dec 31, 2022, operating expenses remained flat from continued cost management, while cost to income ratio was higher at 57.1 per cent in 2022 compared to 55.5 per cent in 2021 due to lower operating income.

Net interest margin (NIM) over earning assets stood at 2.7 per cent in 2022, compared to 3.1 per cent in 2021, arising from higher cost of funds and lower loan yields.