Malaysia's top lender Maybank said today its net profit for the year to June grew 3.2 percent year-on-year to RM2.5 billion from the previous fiscal year.

The banking group credited the modest improvement to higher interest earnings from an improving loans and advances portfolio, as well as a stronger non-interest income.

It said in a statement that net interest income rose 3.1 percent to RM4.25 billion while its loan loss provisions increased 66.3 percent to RM823.81 million.

Maybank said its gains were offset by higher loan loss provisions as a consequence of writing down the collateral value of long-outstanding non-performing loans and losses of certain subsidiaries.

For the fourth quarter to June, Maybank said net profit fell 12.2 percent to RM567.29 million.

Net interest income for the fourth quarter rose 4.8 percent to RM1.09 billion while loan loss provisions increased 152.1 percent to RM310.35 million.

Maybank said it was confident of improving its financial performance for the current year to June 2006.