Malaysia's Maybank Q4 profit rises 43 pct, beats estimates

Reuters

HONG KONG, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) reported a 43 percent rise in fourth-quarter net profit on Thursday, as Malaysia's largest lender by assets boosted loan growth while investment income rose.

Profit for October-December reached 2.36 billion ringgit ($530.81 million) from 1.65 billion ringgit a year earlier. That compared with analysts' estimate of 1.84 billion ringgit, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Net interest income rose 1 percent to 2.96 billion ringgit from 2.93 billion ringgit a year earlier, the bank said in a statement to the stock exchange.

($1 = 4.4460 ringgit) (Reporting by Michelle Price and Sumeet Chatterjee; Additional reporting Gaurav Dogra; Editing by Christopher Cushing)