Malayan Banking Berhad, better known as Maybank, reported a net profit of RM 2.69 billion for the second quarter of fiscal year 2026, up 2.4% from RM 2.63 billion in the same period a year earlier, according to results released by the group on Thursday.
The modest improvement was underpinned by lower loan impairment charges and higher non-interest income, which together offset softer conditions elsewhere in the core lending business at Malaysia's largest bank by assets and one of the biggest financial institutions across Southeast Asia.
NON-INTEREST INCOME PROVIDES LIFT
Other operating income rose by RM 250.2 million to RM 2.93 billion, a category that at Maybank captures fee-based earnings, treasury and markets contributions and other non-lending revenue streams. The uplift was one of the main swing factors in the quarter and helped absorb pressures elsewhere on the income statement, particularly on the interest income line where regional banks have been contending with margin normalisation.
Gross loans grew 2.7% year on year to RM 695.9 billion, indicating that the balance sheet continued to expand across the group's regional franchise, which spans Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and other ASEAN markets. Customer deposits crossed a symbolic threshold during the quarter, reaching RM 700 billion, a level that underlines the depth of Maybank's funding base across its home market and international operations.
The combination of expanded loan and deposit franchises, together with the increase in other operating income and lower impairment charges, allowed Maybank to eke out year-on-year profit growth despite the challenging environment for net interest margins that has affected regional lenders through much of the current financial year.
The RM 250.2 million uplift in other operating income was particularly notable because it demonstrates that the group's diversified revenue mix continues to provide meaningful support when core net interest income growth is more subdued, an increasingly important consideration for ASEAN banking investors as regional monetary policy settings stabilise.
REGIONAL FRANCHISE STAYS RESILIENT
Maybank is Malaysia's largest banking group and one of the biggest lenders in Southeast Asia by market capitalisation, with an operating footprint that reaches across ASEAN and beyond into Greater China and selected international financial centres. Investors watch its quarterly disclosures for read-across to broader regional credit and deposit trends.
The RM 700 billion deposit milestone illustrates the scale of the group's funding base, and the 2.7% year-on-year gross loan expansion suggests underlying demand for credit across its markets remained intact through the first half of the year, even as competitive dynamics in the Malaysian banking sector have intensified. That level of deposit accumulation reinforces the group's position among ASEAN's most substantial funding franchises and provides a stable base for continued lending activity into subsequent quarters.
The results were published through Maybank's investor relations disclosures. The group did not revise its published financial year targets alongside the release, and further updates on strategic priorities are expected at subsequent investor briefings and at the release of the next quarterly numbers scheduled for later in the year. Market participants will monitor the trajectory of net interest income against the current interest rate environment, the pace of loan and deposit growth in the group's key ASEAN markets, and the direction of impairment charges through the balance of the fiscal year.