Security Bank net profit climbs 22% in Q3

SECURITY BANK Corp. recorded a higher net profit in the third quarter, driven by double-digit growth in its income from loans and deposits.

In its quarterly report filed with the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday, the bank said it booked a net income of P2.74 billion in the July-September period, 22% higher than the year-ago figure of P2.246 billion.

This brought its bottom line for the first nine months of the year to P7.695 billion, up 18% from P6.539 billion in the same period in 2018.

Return on assets was at 1.33%, while return on equity stood at 8.14%.

Security Bank’s total revenues for the quarter climbed 35% year-on-year to P8.8 billion, driven by earnings from its core businesses.

The bank’s net interest income from customer loans and deposits climbed 49% year-on-year to P5.9 billion, fuelled by the growth in retail loans, low-cost deposits, and pricing in wholesale loans.

Retail loans comprised 27% of the bank’s total loans at end-September, up from a 19% share last year, as retail loans increased 54% from a year ago.

With this, Security Bank’s total net interest income climbed 33% to P7.019 billion from P5.258 billion in the third quarter of 2018.

Security Bank saw its total loans rise 11% to P444 billion as of September, while total deposits went up 4% to P487 billion.

“Asset quality remained healthy, with gross non-performing loan (NPL) ratio at 1.4%, lower than the industry’s 1.7% as of August 2019. Under the new BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) regulations implemented last year requiring Expected Credit Loss (ECL) provisioning by banks, the bank set aside P1.1 billion for provision for credit losses in Q3-2019,” the bank said.

The bank’s NPL reserve cover stood at 110% as of September, with its provisions for credit losses in the first nine months of the year at P1.75 billion.

Its net interest margin increased to 4.05% in the third quarter, up by 77 basis points from the same period last year.

The lender’s service charges, fees, and commissions also jumped by 44% to P1 billion, driven by credit cards, loan fees, deposit charges, bancassurance, and stock brokerage, while securities trading gains in the quarter amounted to P369 million. Total non-interest income increased 43% to P1.8 billion.

The bank’s earnings in the quarter increased even as its total operating expenses climbed to P5.718 billion from P3.612 billion in the same period in last year.

Total assets held by the lender stood at P807 billion as of September, up from P766.66 billion as of end-2018.

Meanwhile, the bank’s common equity Tier 1 ratio stood at 17.1%, up from 16.8% in the second quarter, while its capital adequacy ratio was 18% compared to 19.2% a quarter ago.

Security Bank shares finished trading at P204 each on Monday, up by P4.80 or 2.41% from the P199.20 close last Oct. 31. — Luz Wendy T. Noble