EastWest Banking Corp., the financial services subsidiary of the Filinvest Group, said net income in 2016 jumped 70 percent to P3.4 billion from P2 billion in 2015 on the sustained growth of its core businesses.
EastWest president and chief executive Antonio Moncupa Jr. said in a statement the 2016 performance was a result of the bank’s expansion program that began four years ago.
“… This puts behind us the worst of the initial pain of the program that brought us to have the seventh largest store network but kept our income flat at P2.0 billion in the previous three years,” Moncupa said.
“Our productivity is improving as the overhead cost related to the expansion of the last three years gain traction. And that is just the start. We expect further improvement in operating leverage and subsequently, better returns to our investors in the coming years,” Moncupa said.
Net revenues grew 34 percent to P22 billion, while operating expenses rose 21 percent to P12 billion.
Total assets increased 25 percent to P292 billion, led by the 51-percent increase in the consumer loan portfolio. East West’s core recurring income rose 25 percent.
The bank sustained its industry-leading net interest margin of 7.7 percent. Net interest margin, net of provisions for loan losses, was recorded at 4.9 percent, still the highest among universal and commercial banks.Julito G. Rada
EastWest is the most consumer-focused universal bank in the country with more than half its loan portfolio lent to consumers. The bank last year targeted a 50-percent earnings growth in anticipation of the early results of an aggressive expansion program that saw EastWest’s nationwide store network almost triple in five years to 445, including its rural bank subsidiary.
Total loans rose 29 percent to P202 billion, while total deposits increased 30 percent to P240 billion, underpinned by a 38-percent increase in low-cost deposits.