AFB posts profit, sees turnaround

KUALA LUMPUR: Asian Finance Bank (AFB) has staged a turnaround for its financial year ended Dec 31, 2011 after posting a small profit, said its chief executive officer Datuk Mohamed Azahari Kamil.

"The profit was contributed by the corporate banking sector and we will announce the details soon," he said.

AFB had posted losses of RM30 million for its financial year 2010 due to the provisions made for the funding of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Mohamed Azahari said while the bank's corporate banking sector had contributed 70 per cent to AFB's profit for the financial year 2011, the rest came from its retail sector.

AFB's new corporate banking model, which focuses on corporate advisory services and was implemented by the bank early last year, has been fruitful, resulting in the growth of its funded assets to RM1 billion.

"We intend to grow this to RM1.5 billion by year-end. We are confident of success as we are focusing on the right business model," he said.

Under the corporate banking model, AFB will provide the financial bridging for Malaysian government-linked companies (GLCs) and public-listed companies (PLCs), looking for ventures in the Middle East, particularly, Qatar.

AFB, a full-fledged Islamic bank, was incorporated on November 28, 2005. It is backed by a consortium of shareholders from leading Middle Eastern financial institutions, namely, the Qatar Islamic Bank (66.67 per cent ), RUSD Investment Bank Inc (16.67 per cent), Tadhamon International Islamic Bank (10 per cent) and Financial Assets Bahrain W.L.L (6.67 per cent).

Corporate advisory services add value to Malaysian institutions and this would eventually result in AFB providing funding for local conglomerates, he said.