Philippine Savings Bank (PS Bank), the thrift bank arm of the Metrobank Group, reported net income of P1.13 billion in the first six months, slightly higher by 0.17 percent than last year’s P1.128 billion.
The lender said net earnings for the period was driven by steady earnings from its core business and translated to a return-on-equity of 12.5 percent.
The bank’s net margins and fee-based income rose by 8 percent to P4.7 billion. Interest income from loans and receivables grew by 11.3 percent and accounted for by growth in its consumer loans.
PS Bank remained focused on strengthening its core business for long-term sustainability, as loan portfolio registered double-digit growth of 15.9 percent to P107.2 billion at end-June 2015. Consumer loan bookings significantly increased by 28.4 percent.
“Owing to aggressive sales and marketing initiatives supported by improved operational and process efficiencies, the bank steadily grew earnings from its core business,” the lender said.
PS Bank made further headway in improving support infrastructures to maximize the potential of its branch distribution network for loan acquisitions.
Total deposits increased by 5.3 percent year-on-year to P119.1 billion, with low cost deposits up by 17.8 percent, providing the lender a stable low-cost fund base.
Deposit-taking initiatives revolved around acquiring new customers, stimulating increase in account balances and aggressive cross-selling to include off-book product lines.
The bank offered added incentives to eligible borrowers in the form of free first-year comprehensive insurance, chattel mortgage fees, and gas allowance for auto loans and free appliance packages for home loans.
The bank was able to consistently manage asset quality with net nonperforming loans ratio kept low at 1.2 percent, even with the growth in its loan portfolio.
PS Bank’s total resources stood formidable at P149.1 billion in the first semester, up 5.7 percent from the same period last year.
The bank’s Tier-1 ratio and total capital adequacy ratio slightly improved to 13.0 percent and 19.1 percent respectively, well above the 8.5 percent and 10.0 percent minimum required level by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for local banks.