Kuala Lumpur, 28 May 2025 - Hong Leong Financial Group Berhad (“HLFG” or the “Group”) today announced its results for the financial year period 31 March 2025 (“9M FY25”).


  • Net profit attributable to shareholders (“PATAMI”) for 9M FY25 remained stable at RM2.40 billion. This stable performance resulted from improved results in commercial banking offsetting lower income from life insurance and investment banking.

    HLFG reported PATAMI included several one-off items from its commercial bank. These consisted of a RM399 million release of management overlay allowance (“MOA”) and a RM408 million non-cash dilution loss from associated companies. If these one-off items are excluded, HLFG's adjusted PATAMI would have been RM2.47 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 3.3%.

  • Commercial banking division, Hong Leong Bank Berhad’s (“HLB” or “the Bank”) profit before tax (“PBT”) increased by 3.9% y-o-y, underpinned by topline expansion, benign net credit costs and prudent cost management.

  • Insurance division, HLA Holdings Sdn Bhd’s (“HLAH”) PBT declined by 13.5% y-o-y from reduced investment income and mark-to-market gains as well as lower share of profits from associate, partially mitigated by higher net insurance service results.

  • Investment banking and asset management division, Hong Leong Capital Berhad’s (“HLCB”) PBT was lower by 23.6% y-o-y primarily attributable to lower mark-to-market gains on equity investments.

  • 9M FY25 Return on average equity (“ROE”) remains commendable at 10.4% on an annualised basis.

  • Book value per share increased to RM27.8 as of 31 March 2025, compared to RM25.8 from a year ago.

Hong Leong Financial Group’s President & Chief Executive Officer, Tan Kong Khoon commented, “Hong Leong Financial Group demonstrated resilience in the first nine months of FY25 despite a challenging operating environment. This was mainly attributed to an 8.6% y-o-y increase in topline, fuelled by above-industry loan growth and a successful strategy to boost fee income, which led to a 14.2% y-o-y growth in non-interest income (“NoII”). Nevertheless, global economic uncertainties stemming from trade disruptions and geopolitical tensions had a negative impact on investment income within the insurance and investment banking divisions.


The Group is strategically growing its business through innovation and collaborations with global leaders. Our commercial bank, HLB, has partnered with Lombard Odier, a 229-year-old Swiss private bank, to enhance HLB's private banking services with advanced wealth management solutions. This dedication to innovation is further underscored by our life insurance arm’s launch of Future-Secured, the first life protection product in the market to offer medical drawdown features.


These enhancements are further amplified by HLFG’s integrated financial ecosystem, which leverages our sales distribution strength and competitive product suite to create valuable cross-selling opportunities which fuels NoII growth. The Group is optimistic on our asset management arm's upcoming foreign-denominated funds distribution through our financial group ecosystem, following encouraging results yielded through the bancassurance integrated sales distribution.”

 


Commercial Banking – PBT of RM4,002 million (+3.9% y-o-y)

  • HLB recorded an improved PBT of RM4,002 million in 9M FY25, from RM3,852 million a year ago, driven by topline expansion, benign net credit costs and prudent cost management. During the financial period, there were also one-off items namely, MOA release and non-cash loss of RM408 million, largely attributed to the natural dilution of HLB’s stake in its associated company, Bank of Chengdu Co., Ltd (“BOCD”) following the completion of its convertible bonds conversion into new ordinary shares, which resulted in an increase in BOCD's total issued share capital.

  • Gross loans, advances and financing maintained its growth momentum, with an increase of 7.2% y-o-y to RM201.2 billion, driven by expansion in our key segments of mortgage, auto loans, SME and commercial banking as well as key overseas markets. Domestic loans/financing increased 7.1% y-o-y, outpaced industry growth rate of 5.3%.

  • Net interest income increased by 5.8% y-o-y to RM3,663 million, led by strong loans/financing growth and effective funding cost management. Correspondingly, net interest margin (“NIM”) improved 5bps y-o-y to 1.90%.

  • Non-interest income also surged by 34.1% y-o-y to RM1,115 million driven by higher wealth management income and GM franchise sales alongside the higher treasury and foreign exchange gain.

  • CASA maintained solid growth of 5.0% y-o-y to RM68.3 billion. The Bank’s CASA ratio stood at 30.4% supported by the Banks’ strategic focus in community deposit acquisition and customer centric cash management solutions.

  • The Bank delivered positive JAWS with a sustained CIR of 38.8%, as we continue to invest strategically in areas of technology and people.

  • Asset quality position of the Bank remained healthy with a GIL ratio of 0.57% whilst LIC ratio stood at 95.0% as at 31 March 2025. Inclusive of regulatory reserve, the coverage ratio would be higher at 250.0%.

  • Capital position of the Bank remained healthy with CET 1, Tier 1 and Total Capital ratios at 12.8%, 13.8% and 15.7% respectively as at 31 March 2025.

 


Insurance – PBT of RM489 million (-13.5% y-o-y)

  • HLAH’s PBT declined by 13.5% y-o-y to RM489 million mainly from reduced net investment income and mark-to-market gains of -29% y-o-y and lower share of profits from its associate, MSIG Insurance (Malaysia) Bhd. This was partially mitigated by improvement in net insurance service results.

  • Overall decline in net investment income during the financial period was mainly attributed to weaker Malaysian equities performance, as reflected by FBM KLCI’s 5% decline since the start of the financial year as compared to last year’s 10% gain during the same period. This was also partially mitigated by higher mark-to-market gains recorded in equities investments in Hong Kong.

  • Hong Leong Assurance (“HLA”) recorded 13.4% y-o-y increase in net insurance service results to RM152.2 million driven by higher expected insurance claims outpacing actual claims, as a result of revision of the medical claims assumptions. This is on top of higher contract service margins ("CSM") release during the period.

  • In terms of gross premiums, our life insurance and family takaful’s total gross premiums / contribution grew by 4.1% y-o-y led by stronger banca new business for both HLA and HLMT that improved 47% y-o-y. Banca now contributes 47% of total life new business, an increase of 8% y-o-y.

  • Our overseas general insurance companies, namely HL Assurance Pte Ltd in Singapore and Hong Leong Insurance (Asia) Limited in Hong Kong, saw gross premiums increase by 7.1% y-o-y and 11.5% y-o-y respectively.

 


Investment Banking – PBT of RM57 million (-23.6% y-o-y)

  • HLCB recorded PBT of RM57 million, a 23.6% decline y-o-y, was primarily attributable to lower mark-to-market gains on equity investments.

  • Stockbroking PBT declined by 5.2% y-o-y on the back of ongoing investments in client acquisitions, digital platforms and network reach expansion. Overall market share declined by 0.48% y-o-y to 3.51%, largely influenced by increased foreign institutional flows, of which HLIB has limited participation.

  • Investment banking division delivered improved PBT of 9.8% y-o-y, driven by increased deal flows in equity markets and improved Treasury & Markets (“T&M”) from higher net interest income resulting from proactive funding cost management and effective portfolio management. This cushioned Debt Markets performance which was impacted by the delay in the completion of mandated deals.

  • Our asset management business’ average Assets Under Management (“AUM”) improved by 4% y-o-y to RM11.6 billion, primarily driven by strong contributions from our Private Mandates, Equity Funds and Fixed Income Funds. Asset management PBT improved by 19.5% to RM8.7 million from prudent cost management initiatives.

 


Sustainability Journey

The Group continues to make strides in our Environmental, Social, and Governance (“ESG”) journey under a Group-Wide approach.


Our commercial bank has achieved a 23% decrease in operational carbon emissions since 2019, as it works towards achieving total net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.


Our life insurer, HLA became Malaysia’s first domestic life insurer signatory to the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (“PCAF”). This alignment ensures all of HLFG’s key operating companies are signatories of PCAF, underscoring the Group’s commitment in supporting Malaysia’s net-zero ambitions.


On the investment banking and asset management front, HLCB has recently completed four ESG/sustainability-related issuances amounting to RM913 million in 9M FY25.


HLFG remains committed to integrating ESG considerations and strengthening its sustainability efforts across all operating companies to deliver long-term value for all stakeholders.


 End