“Despite facing a more challenging business climate, the Public Bank Group was able to sustain stable profitability in 2018 due to its continuous efforts to drive revenue growth,” chairman Teh Hong Piow said at the bank’s 53rd annual general meeting here today.

The bank paid out 69 sen as dividend in 2018 which amounted to RM2.68 billion, representing a payout of 47.9% of its group net profit in 2018.

The bank’s lending activities continued to be driven by the financing of residential properties and passenger vehicles. The bank also has a strong SME loan book.

“Public Bank achieved loans growth of 4.2% in 2018 while deposits grew by 6.2%,” added Teh.

The bank was the market leader for the purchase of residential and commercial properties with market shares of 19.8% and 35.2% respectively.

The impaired loans ratio of the bank stood at 0.5%, lower than the industry average of 1.5%.

The bank’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Public Mutual, was a major contributor of non-interest income. It manages 147 unit trust funds amounting to RM78.75 billion in 2018 with a market share of 37.2%.

In 2018, the bank gave out 42,000 housing loans amounting to RM16.18 billion, of which 62.3% was for the affordable housing segment.