Bank Rakyat expects profits to reach RM2 B

Bank Rakyat expects its profit before tax and zakat to reach RM2 billion for its current financial year ending Dec 31, 2011.

Managing director, Datuk Kamaruzaman Che Mat, said that based on the first-half profit of RM979 million, the bank was confident of achieving the target.

"For the last financial year, we recorded profit before tax and zakat of RM1.72 billion, which was the highest since its establishment in 1954," he said.

He added taht the RM2 billion target is slightly higher compared to the group's previous target of RM1.85 billion.

Kamaruzaman expected consumer financing to remain as a major contributor to the current year's profit.

He also expected the bank's total loan to grow between 11 per cent and 12 per cent this year compared with 19 per cent last year.

The full sotry is available at Bernama.