United Coconut Planters Bank said net income rose 5.1 percent last year to P3.3 billion from a year ago, driven by consumer loan business, non-interest income and strong performance of subsidiaries.
“We are very glad that we exceeded our P2.7-billion full-year net income projection. This is a concerted effort among the UCPB Group composed of the parent bank and its subsidiaries UCPB Savings Bank, UCPB Leasing and Finance Corp., and UCPB Securities Inc.,” UCPB president and chief executive Jeronimo Kilayko said in a statement over the weekend.
“We are confident that we can sustain this upward trajectory even as we continue to look for a government-approved alternative to our suspended recapitalization program,” Kilayko said.
Total loans grew 10 percent to P127.7 billion in 2015 from P116 billion in 2014. Consumer loans increased 29 percent to P49.5 billion while maintaining good loan quality. This was reflected in the bank’s overall net non-performing loan ratio at 1.98 percent.
Consumer loan growth was supported by an 8.4-percent increase in deposits to P239.1 billion. The bank maintained a healthy 70:30 ratio in terms of its low-cost and high-cost deposits which lowered its expenses by 3.7 percent.
The bank’s fee-based income grew 6.5 percent to P1.0 billion which was contributed by consumer loan, deposit and other product-related fees. Trading income also increased 16 percent from P174 million in 2014 to P201.9 million in 2015.
Operating expenses barely increased by 0.3 percent increase from 2014.
UCPB subsidiaries posted an impressive growth in net income. UCPB Savings Bank’s 2015 net income jumped 22.6 percent to P437.4 million while UCPB Leasing Finance Corp.’ net income advanced to P173.3 million from P149 million in 2014.
UCPB has a diversified range of financial services provided by the bank and its subsidiaries to its various clients. UCPB Savings Bank provides commercial financing and consumer loan financing to teacher and LGU employees. UCPB Leasing Finance Corp. provides leasing and The Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order in 2015, putting on hold the sale of government’s stake in UCPB, which stopped negotiations with interested investors.
UCPB senior vice president and corporate secretary Ildefonso Jimenez said in an earlier news briefing that Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd., Japan’s largest bank, was one of the major entities that showed interest in the government’s stake in UCPB.
The Japanese bank instead acquired in January 2016 a 20-percent stake in Security Bank Corp. for P37 billion ($782 million), making it the largest investment by a foreign financial institution in the Philippines.
Jimenez said UCPB would continue to look for available options under the next administration on how to strengthen the bank’s financial standing. One option, he said, could be the filing of a bill for the recapitalization of the bank.