PHILIPPINE BANK of Communications (PBCom) and its subsidiaries booked higher earnings in the second quarter on higher income from service charges, fees and commissions and a recovery in trading gains.

In its quarterly report released Thursday, PBCom said it posted a consolidated net income of P210.37 million in the three months ended June, 55% higher than the P135.57 million it earned in the same period last year.

Net interest income grew to P789.46 million from P789.68 million in the same period last year amid an increase in trading gains, as well as earnings from service charges, fees and commissions and its trust operations, among others.

PBCom’s trading gains surged to P118.7 million in the second quarter from the P9.141 million recorded a year ago.

Income from service charges, fees and commissions grew to P104.62 million from P87.793 million last year. Earnings from its trust operations likewise increased to P4.89 million in the second quarter from P3.75 million in 2018.

Meanwhile, its foreign exchange gains declined to P7.64 million from P9.8 million last year.

“Interest income from loans and receivables is higher by 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year as the bank continued in focusing its efforts in expanding its corporate and consumer loan portfolios and increasing loan yields,” it said.

The bank’s total operating income climbed to P1.25 million in the second quarter from P1.09 million in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, its total operating expenses also went up to P987.59 million from P910.44 million the previous year.

For the first half, PBCom’s net income climbed 89.8% to P593 million from the P312.4 million earned in the same period last year.

“Low-cost deposit volume has improved as the bank grew its demand and savings deposit base to P32.5 billion from P29.1 billion in June of the previous year while time deposits and bills payable declined by 18.7% and 28.2%, respectively.”

Assets of the PBCom Group stood at P93.8 billion at end-June, down from the P103.7 billion booked as of December 2018. PBCom attributed the decline to lower loans and receivables due to the sale of a portion of the bank’s auto loan portfolio.

Its gross nonperforming loan ratio increased to 5.7% at end-June from 5% in the same period last year.

PBCom and its subsidiaries’ net profit margin was at 23.43% at end-June from 14.25% last year. Meanwhile, net interest margin stood at 1.94%, lower than last year’s 2.04%, its quarterly report showed.

Return on equity stood at 5.58%, up from 3.16% the previous year.

The bank’s capital adequacy ratio stood at 16.48% at end-June, an improvement from the 15.12% logged last year.

As of June 30, PBCom had a total network of 89 regular branches, three branch-lite units and a total of 151 automated teller machines. — B.M. Laforga

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