• 
• 

Published on July 18, 2007

The small bank and its subsidiaries earlier announced its net profit declined 24.7 per cent in the second quarter to Bt793.63 million.

The bank said its gains on investment- and brokerage-fee income fell 15.2 per cent year on year. There was a significant difference in the investment climate of the country's stock market between last year's first quarter and this year's.

Capital-market activities slowed during the first half of this year, compared with the bullish market in the same period last year, said the Tisco Bank senior executive vice president Oranuch Apisaksirikul.

However, she said investment in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) was expected to improve in the second half after the SET Index began recovering at the end of the second quarter. The rally has been supported mainly by foreign capital inflows that have accompanied rising investor confidence in the political and economic situation.

With positive signs of investment in the Thai stock market, daily trading volume is expected to reach a minimum of Bt10 billion for the second half of this year, which would improve the bank's brokerage-fee income. The bank last month started recording fee income of between Bt50 million and Bt55 million a month, she said. "Under the good prospects of both stock-market investment and the country's second-half economic outlook, Tisco hopes the bank will show better earnings in the second half," Oranuch said.

Tisco Bank alone, apart from its subsidiaries, showed a satisfactory net profit of Bt437.79 million in this year's second quarter, up 24.7 per cent year on year. The bank's better results were helped by an increase in net interest and dividend income of 32.6 per cent from continuous growth in its hire-purchase business.

The bank's spread between its deposit and lending rates also increased, from 3.2 per cent in last year's second quarter to 3.4 per cent in this year's, which also boosted the bank's interest income.

Oranuch said the bank recorded total loan growth of 8.2 per cent in the first half. As a result, Tisco is confident of achieving its full-year growth target of 17 per cent. This will be supported by the economic recovery and consumption improvement expected in the second half. Lower interest rates will also boost domestic spending over the period, and the bank believes the country's policy signal rate may be reduced 25-50 basis points this year.

Somruedi Banchongduang

The Nation