Attijariwafa Bank SA reported first-quarter IFRS consolidated net income group share of 1.42 billion Moroccan dirhams, up from 1.35 billion dirhams earned a year earlier.

The application of IFRS 16 accounting standards, which replaced IAS 17 beginning Jan. 1, had a negative impact of 10 million dirhams on the first-quarter result, the Moroccan lender noted.

EPS for the quarter was 6.8 dirhams, compared to the year-ago 6.6 dirhams.

Net interest margin rose year over year to 3.60 billion dirhams from 3.34 billion dirhams. Net fee income also increased, to 1.27 billion dirhams from 1.25 billion dirhams. The lender booked net gains on other financial instruments at fair value through profit or loss of 928.8 million dirhams, up from 893.7 million dirhams in the first quarter of 2018.

The bank incurred amortization and depreciation expenses on tangible and intangible assets of 363.5 million dirhams, compared to 278.9 million dirhams a year earlier. General operating expenses increased on a yearly basis to 2.35 billion dirhams from 2.28 billion dirhams.

As of June 4, US$1 was equivalent to 9.67 Moroccan dirhams.