Malayan Banking Bhd announced that its interim net profit rose 19 percent year-on-year, but prospects remained cloudy amid war threats in Iraq.

Net profit rose to RM897.81 million in the six months to December, from RM753.166 million a year earlier, boosted by a 23 percent drop in loan loss provisions to RM535.409 million, it said.

The net non-performing loans (NPL) ratio fell concurrently to 7.3 percent of total loans as at end-December, from 8.4 percent a year earlier. For the half year, total loans and advances expanded to RM108.80 billion from RM105.80 billion a year earlier, with loans growth of 5.7 percent o­n an annualised basis.

The bank said loans extended to small and medium-sized industries and consumer financing were particularly strong.

But its investment banking business was affected by lower fee-based income which reflected the difficult conditions in equity markets.