Malaysia's Southern Bank end-2005 net assets overstated by 160 mln rgt

Malaysia's Southern Bank end-2005 net assets overstated by 160 mln rgt
01/06/2007 19:14:00
KUALA LUMPUR (XFN-ASIA) - Bumiputra-Commerce Holdings Bhd said
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) have completed their review of Southern Bank Bhd's
audited financial statements for 2005 and it is estimated that Southern Bank's
net assets as of end-2005 had been overstated by about 160 mln rgt.
In a stock exchange filing, the company said PwC has confirmed that, in their
opinion, there were indeed inappropriate accounting treatments of certain
transactions reported in Southern Bank's financial statements for 2005.
These accounting treatments relate to inappropriately valuing certain
derivative financial instruments entered into by Southern Bank, among others, it
said.
The overstatement of 160 mln rgt is approximately 2.4 pct of the purchase
consideration of 6.7 bln rgt paid by Bumiputra-Commerce for Southern Bank, said
the banking group.
It added that PwC has confirmed that these inappropriate accounting treatments
have all been corrected as at end-June 2006 in Bumiputra-Commerce's books and
that no further amendments or corrections are required.

Source: Osk Wirenews