PHILIPPINE Savings Bank (PSBank) booked a double-digit income growth in the first quarter on the back of strong revenues.
In a disclosure to the local bourse on Thursday, the thrift banking arm of Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. said its net profit grew 25% to P641.1 million in the January to March quarter from the P511.1 million tallied in the same period last year.
PSBank attributed the results to “strong revenues, composed of net interest margin and other operating income.”
The bank’s total operating income was at P3.7 billion last quarter, a 15% jump from the P3.2 billion logged a year ago.
PSBank’s loan portfolio grew 11.7% to P149.2 billion, supported by its consumer loan business.
As a result, net interest income improved by 10.4% to P2.9 billion from last year’s P2.6 billion, according to the lender’s separate quarterly report.
The pickup in lending came alongside deposit growth, rising 9.2% to P186 billion.
PSBank’s income from service fees and commissions rose 8.4% to P362.2 million last quarter from the P334 billion logged in the comparable year-ago period.
Other operating income, meanwhile, jumped 77.8% to P406.8 million from last year’s P228.8 million.
Overall, PSBank’s total resources expanded 9.4% year-on-year to P224.8 billion.
“The improvement in our performance this quarter is a result of the year-on-year momentum brought about by our strategy to focus on exceptional customer experience, digitization of products and channels, and automation of backroom processes,” Jose Vicente L. Alde was quoted as saying in a statement.
“These resulted to an expansion of our market stronghold and good bottom line performance.”
The lender’s net interest margin was at 1.52% as of end-March, slightly down from 1.53% in the same period last year.
Its capital adequacy ratio and common equity Tier 1 ratio, on the other hand, were at 13.75% and 11%, respectively.
PSBank shares closed at P86.60 apiece on Thursday, down 10 centavos or 0.12%. — K.A.N. Vidal
