Bank of Ayudhya, the country's fifth-largest lender, said on Friday its quarterly net profit rose 10.6% from a year earlier, boosted by higher net interest income as a result of strong loan growth from retail clients.
Bank of Ayudhya, controlled by Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc, raised its 2016 loan target range to 8% to 9%, from 5% to 6%, after consolidating loans from Cambodia subsidiary Hattha Kaksekar Ltd (HKL), it said in a statement.
In the first nine months of the year, the bank's lending grew 7.7%, mainly due to an 11.2 percent jump in retail customers after a broad-based expansion in auto hire-purchase, mortgages, credit cards and personal loans, it said.
Excluding loans from the Cambodia unit, loans grew 6.6%, the bank said.
The bank posted July-September net profit of 5.83 billion baht ($166 million), higher than the 4.9 billion baht of a year earlier and the 5.53 billion baht average of four analyst estimates in a Reuters poll.
At the end of September, non-performing loans fell to 2.1% of total loans, a new low since the Asian financial crisis, versus 2.2% at the end of June.
The recent acquisition of HKL was a milestone for Bank of Ayudhya, which has expanded into four Southeast Asian neighbours -- Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam -- said president and chief executive Noriaki Goto.
BAY shares rose 0.69% to 36.25 in trade worth 13.3 million baht on Friday.