Listed Bank of Commerce (BankCom) doubled profits during the first quarter of the year to P713 million as higher-margin business loans grew alongside the continued reopening of the economy.
“This remarkable accomplishment was on the back of expansion in its loan portfolio, higher margin and growing fee income,” the banking arm of conglomerate San Miguel Corp. said in a statement on Friday.
BankCom said total loans and receivables stood at P106.48 billion, which were “mainly attributable to an increase in corporate lending.”
Interest income from January to March jumped 61 percent to P2.67 billion, pushing up net interest margin to 4.22 percent from 3.73 percent last year.
BankCom said robust lending expanded the loan-to-deposit ratio to 73 percent. Asset quality, measured via net non-performing loans ratio, also improved to 0.58 percent in March from 0.60 percent at the end of December last year.
BankCom said other income streams, accounting for 15 percent of revenues, climbed 25 percent to P341 billion.
Bulk of the gains came from higher service charges, fees and commissions due to the growth in trust, credit card, trade finance and investment banking fees.
Foreign exchange gains also grew by 3 percent to P43.96 million from P42.59 million.
BankCom’s total revenues during the first quarter expanded by 31 percent to P2.27 billion.
Prudent spending
“The significant growth in total revenues combined with prudent operating spending and seasonality in expenses resulted to a significant improvement in its cost-to-income ratio at 59.99 percent,” the lender said.
BankCom closed the first quarter with total assets of P206.42 billion, translating to a return on asset of 1.35 percent.
Moreover, capital rose to P28.86 billion, which was 3-percent higher due to larger retained earnings for the period.
BankCom said its total capital adequacy ratio of 19.51 percent, up from 17.97 percent last year, was above the minimum regulatory requirement of 10 percent.
—Miguel R. Camus INQ
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