PSBank ’16 net income up 4.26%

Strong growth of core income boosted Philippine Savings Bank’s (PSBank) 2016 net income by 4.25 percent to Php 2.45 billion from the previous year’s Php 2.35 billion. (Photo: PSBank/Facebook)

MANILA—Strong growth of core income boosted Philippine Savings Bank’s (PSBank) 2016 net income by 4.25 percent to Php 2.45 billion from the previous year’s Php 2.35 billion.

In a disclosure with the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Friday, the thrift banking arm of the Metrobank Group said core income, which covers net interest margin and fees and commissions, last year rose by 11.6 percent from 2015’s Php 9.68 billion to Php 10.80 billion.

This brought the return-on-average equity, which measures a company’s ability to generate profit, to 12.5 percent, it said.

Total loan portfolio registered a double-digit jump of 11.4 percent to Php 129.2 billion from year-ago’s Php 116 billion “mainly driven by the significant increase in auto and mortgage loans.”

Amid the rise in loans, the bank said net non-performing loans (NPL) ratio remained low at 1.1 percent and the NPL coverage ratio was still high at 88.6 percent.

Low-cost deposits rose by 19.1 percent, enabling the total deposits to increase by 17.9 percent year-on-year to Php 158.39 billion.

Data shows total resources rose by 16.3 percent to Php 196.9 billion; capital adequacy ratio (CAR), a guage of a bank’s financial health, stood at 14.1 percent; and tier 1 ratio ended at 11.1 percent.

PSBank president Vicente R. Cuna Jr. said “2016 was a good year for PSBank.”

“Aside from strengthening our core business, the Bank was also conferred with several new and back-to-back recognition from local and international award-giving bodies, acknowledging our ability to come up with innovative product offerings and provide exceptional end-to-end customer experience,” he said.

“Such recognition drive us to continue to provide the best banking experience to our clients with products and services that are simple and reliable,” he added.