EAST WEST Banking Corp. (EastWest Bank) listed a fresh tranche of long-term debt notes on the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. (PDEx) last week, completing its P10-billion borrowing plan due in five years.
In a statement posted on the PDEx web site, the Gotianun-owned lender said they have listed P2.631 billion worth of long-term negotiable certificates of deposit (LTNCDs) last Thursday.
LTNCDs are similar to regular time deposits which offer higher interest rates, but the difference is that these cannot be pre-terminated. Being “negotiable” means that these can be sold on the secondary market prior to maturity date.
The recent listing marks the fifth and final tranche under EastWest Bank’s offering of LTNCDs totalling P10 billion, which are all due by 2022. Prior to last week’s listing, the listed lender previously issued and listed batches of long-term notes in amounts of P2.704 billion, P995.2 million, P2.592 billion, and P1.078 billion.
The bank’s LTNCDs brought the total listings at PDEx to P157.15 billion. Meanwhile, total tradable corporate debt instruments reached P755.7 billion issued by 44 companies.
EastWest Bank got the nod from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for the P10-billion note issuance in January. Jose Emmanuel U. Hilado, the bank’s senior executive vice-president and chief operating officer, previously said that the exercise will boost the bank’s fund-raising initiatives and the bank’s deposit profile.
EastWest Bank saw its net income jump to P2.502 billion during the first semester, surging by 60% from P1.563 billion from the comparable year-ago period. With the huge profits, the bank now expects full-year income to P4.8 billion.
Total loans granted by the bank grew by 19% from a year ago to reach P212 billion, largely driven by surge in consumer lending which rose by a third. This helped offset a 6% decline in corporate loans.
On the other hand, deposits held by EastWest Bank totalled P254.9 billion during the first semester, posting a 24% growth from P206.3 billion the year prior. In turn, total assets climbed by a fifth to reach P309.6 billion from P257.4 billion a year ago.
The bank runs 389 branches and 576 automated teller machines nationwide as of June.
Shares in EastWest Bank picked up to P30.80 each yesterday, up 1.32% from P30.40 apiece during Aug. 31. — Melissa Luz T. Lopez
