(20 April 2004 – Thailand) Thai Military Bank has said it is likely to build on its strong first quarter result of 49 percent growth over the next few quarters.The bank, which was a former takeover target for ANZ, posted a net profit of 1.43 billion baht (A$0.05 billion) for the January to March period compared with 961.3 million baht (A$32.9 million) for the same period last year.
The performance has been built on lending growth, lower performing loans and lower interest expenses. The bank’s non-performing loans stood at 10.80 percent of its total loans compared with 9.89 percent at the end of December.
The bank’s assets stood at 385.14 billion baht (A$13.11) at the end of March.
Thai Military Bank merged with Singapore’s DBS Thai Danu Bank and state-controlled Industrial Finance Corp in March 2004. This followed strenuous efforts to find a buyer, including a potential name change to TMB Bank in a bid to become more marketable.