Maybank Islamic Bhd. reported a year-over-year decrease in net profit for the quarter ended March 31, as allowances for impairment losses surged.

The bank said May 30 that net profit attributable to shareholders dropped to 252.6 million Malaysian ringgit from 403.8 million ringgit in the prior-year period. EPS came to 89.73 sen, down from 1.43 ringgit.

Total distributable income increased to 2.11 billion ringgit from 2.04 billion ringgit. Income from investment of depositors' funds surged to 2.07 billion ringgit from 1.60 billion ringgit. Income from investment of investment account funds dropped to 311.4 million ringgit from 412.4 million ringgit.

Net allowance for impairment losses on financing and advances surged to 348.5 million ringgit from 53.4 million ringgit in the year-ago period.

Maybank Islamic's net impaired financing and advances ratio came in at 0.77% at the end of March, down from 0.81% in the previous quarter.

As of March 31, the bank's total capital ratio stood at 18.895%, down from 20.782% at the end of 2017. Its Tier 1 and common equity Tier 1 ratios for the period clocked in at 14.408% and 12.821%, respectively, both down from 16.150% and 14.500%, respectively, as of Dec. 31, 2017.

Maybank Islamic is a unit of Malayan Banking Bhd.

As of May 30, US$1 was equivalent to 3.99 Malaysian ringgit.