PHILIPPINE Savings Bank (PSBank) posted a slightly higher net income in the first half, boosted by its consumer lending portfolio and efforts to improve operational efficiencies, the lender said in a statement to the stock exchange on Friday.

Earnings at the thrift-banking arm of Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) rose 2.5% from a year earlier to P1.4 billion in the six months to June, it said. It didn’t provide second-quarter financial figures.

PSBank shares rose by 40 centavos to close at P58.50 each.

PSBank’s loans and receivables rose 6.8% to P160.8, it said, adding that car and mortgage loans were the main contributors to growth in consumer lending.

Total deposits fell to P179.4 billion from P200.1 billion after the lender rebalanced its funding profile, focusing more on retail and alternative funding sources, it said.

Its nonperforming loan (NPL) ratio stood at 2.8%.

PSBank said its total capital adequacy ratio was at 18.6%, while its common equity Tier 1 ratio stood at 16.1% — both above the minimum set by the central bank.

Meanwhile, PSBank raised P6.3 Billion in its peso fixed rate bond sale in July, which would give it access to long-term funding as it expands its consumer banking business.

“With all these favorable results we’ve been able to accomplish in the first half, we are maintaining a positive outlook for the rest of the year,” bank President Jose Vicente L. Alde said in the statement. — Beatrice M. Laforga

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