CIMB profit rises after cost-cutting

KUALA LUMPUR • Malaysian bank CIMB Group Holdings yesterday posted a 26.9 per cent rise in profit for the third quarter as cost-cutting bore fruit, and flagged stronger loans growth in the months ahead.

Malaysia's second-largest lender by assets recorded a net profit of RM1.02 billion (S$328 million) for the quarter ended September, compared with RM803.9 million in the same period a year ago.

CIMB Group chief executive Zafrul Aziz said the bank's capital position was strengthening.

Net interest income rose 4.6 per cent and total gross loans grew by 2.4 per cent from a year ago.

On regional growth, Mr Aziz said the bank was looking forward to expanding into Vietnam.

REUTERS

UK jobless rate at 11-year low but more on the dole

LONDON • Britain's unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to its lowest level in 11 years in the first three months after the Brexit vote, official data showed yesterday, but there were signs that a slowdown in the labour market could be coming.

The jobless rate edged downwards to 4.8 per cent in the July-September period. But the increase of 49,000 in the number of people in work was the slowest since the three months to March, and the number of people claiming unemployment benefits gathered speed last month, the Office for National Statistics said.

Britain's economy weathered the initial shock of the Brexit vote better than the Bank of England and almost all private-sector economists expected.

REUTERS