This was “due to the rising cost of funds from the full impact of upward deposit repricing, keener deposit competition and the continued normalisation of current and savings account balances,” it said in a statement.
The credit rating agency said despite another 25-basis-point overnight policy rate increase in May – a boon to margins – “a full-year margin squeeze is unlikely to be avoided.” RAM Ratings co-head of financial institution ratings Wong Yin Ching noted that the average NIM of eight selected banks was a lower 2.13% in the first quarter of 2023 compared to 2.41% in the fourth quarter of 2022 and 2.28% in the first quarter of last year.
“The cumulative 100-basis-point OPR hike last year boosted banks’ NIMs in the second half of 2022 as lending rates repriced faster than deposits.Wong said “with rising rates, depositors have also been gradually reverting from low-cost CASA deposits to fixed deposits while the strong competition for deposits late last year, with attractive promotional rates, further contributed to costlier funding.