Affin – seeking fresh perception

Affin banking group has improved much since the days of high NPLs. The onus is now on the bank to shake off its poor market impression.
A STIGMA is often hard to wash away. And that's in spite of the evidence to show that past perceptions don't hold water anymore.
That is somewhat the quandary the Affin banking group finds itself in.

It has transformed its chequered past of high non-performing or impaired loans where ratios had easily hit double digit to one where its balance sheet today is far more healthy than its previous reputation suggests.

However, that improvement is not reflected in the share price of its holding company Affin Holdings Bhd which continues to be dogged by poor market perception that the banking group is still carrying these legacy loans when the opposite is true.

Apart from the market perception, the holding company's shares also suffers from lack of market liquidity.

“Our recovery efforts as well as the writing off of impaired loans had brought down the loan book to RM16bil, which we subsequently grew to RM30bil through the creation of quality credits,” Affin Bank managing director Datuk Zulkiflee Abbas Abdul Hamid tells StarBizWeek.

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