Philippine Savings Bank push earnings up by 50%

The Philippine Savings Bank reported an earnings increase of 50 percent year-on-year to P1.38 billion in the first half.

The bank attributed its increased income to investment gains and strong growth from its loan portfolio.

In a statement, the bank said its gross loans went up by 14 percent to P67 billion boosted by consumer loans and Large Enterprise Group loans. Auto and mortgage loans grew by 15 percent and 14 percent respectively because of higher demand and improved penetration in PSBank’s branch, dealer and developer channels, it said.

Corporate loans increased 28 percent.

The bank's capital in the meantime expanded by 15 percent to P14.3 billion. Capital adequacy ratio is higher at 17.96 percent while its Tier 1 Capital ratio stood at 14.15 percent. Net revenue as of the end of June increased to P5.9 billion from P2.2 billion from investments gains in government securities and interest income on loans which grew seven percent.

The "new loan releases for acquisition of houses and condominiums have surged by 50 percent from last year (and) if this pace holds up in the second half, our loan portfolio will be 18 percent to 20 percent higher thanprevious year," said PSBank President Pascual M. Garcia III.

"However, while loan demand is robust, margins are declining due to competitive loan pricing by banks. This, coupled with less trading opportunities, may moderate profit growth in the second half," Pascual added.

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