State-run Land Bank of the Philippines said net income rose 10 percent in 2018 to reach an all-time high of P15.5 billion.
LandBank, the country’s third largest lender in terms of assets, said it closed the year with a robust performance, based on unaudited figures.
The bank said net income last year increased from P14.1 billion it earned in 2017.
“We achieved exceptional performance in 2018 with our net loan portfolio expanding significantly by 37 percent or more than P220 billion to reach P840 billion,” LandBank president and chief executive Alex Buenaventura said.
“We are pleased to have improved on our net income performance in 2018 as we continued to expand support to our priority sectors, especially the farmers and fishers, cooperatives, agribusiness, SMEs [small and medium enterprises and LGUs [local government units],” said Buenaventura.
He said the bank’s net income could have been higher on the back of significant growth in loans, if not for higher expenses.
“However, we incurred a significant increase in manpower cost last year because of the implementation of the Salary Standardization Law which affected our income,” Buenaventura said.
LandBank said deposit base grew 17 percent to reach P1.66 trillion from P1.42 trillion in 2017, as the government and private sector deposits increased.
Capital also increased 26 percent to P131.62 billion from P104.6 billion.
