Bank of Commerce, an affiliate of conglomerate San Miguel Corp., said Thursday net income in the first six months jumped 79 percent to P1.59 billion from P886.91 million a year ago on continued strength across business segments.
The first-half performance translated into a return on equity of 11 percent.
“BankCom’s first-half results were primarily driven by sustained growth in the bank’s core business, higher margins, and growth in fee-based income, including trust, remittance, investment banking, and trade finance,” it said in a statement.
Revenues climbed 32 percent to P4.85 billion from P3.67 billion on steady growth in net interest income, service charges, fees, commissions, foreign exchange and real and other properties acquired-related gains.
Net interest income rose 28 percent to P3.95 billion from P3.08 billion on solid expansion in the bank’s financial assets, mainly from corporate loans and effective managing of funding cost, which resulted in a higher net interest margin of 4.35 percent.
Other income surged 1.5 times to P901.20 million from P583.57 million last year propelled mainly by the robust fee-based revenue generating activities of the bank.
Service charges, fees and commissions posted a 24-percent increase to P448.02 million streaming mainly from trust, credit card, trade finance and investment banking fees. Its remittance business, also a fee income generator, recorded a promising growth of more than 30 percent given the notable performances of overseas partners coupled with the impact of the successful execution of marketing campaigns.
Foreign exchange gains rose 18 percent to P80.81 million on account of increased volume of transactions.
The bank recorded a reversal of provisions amounting to P11.83 million reflecting improving credit quality and some recoveries.
Total operating expenses, excluding provision for credit and impairment losses, amounted to P2.74 billion, 7.51 percent higher than P2.55 billion in the same period last year primarily due to increase in occupancy cost, compensation and benefits, as well as subscription fees.
The bank ended June 2023 with total assets amounting of P207.52 billion, with a return on assets of 1.49 percent.
Capital base stood at P29.67 billion as of June 30, 2023, or 6 percent higher than P28.03 billion in 2022, on the back of higher retained earnings for the period due to robust revenue inflows.
The bank’s capital adequacy remained strong with a total CAR of 19.42 percent, higher than 17.97 percent last year and above the minimum regulatory requirement of 10 percent.
The bank is a listed universal bank that provides a wide range of financial products and services: deposits, cash management/solutions, payments, lending, asset management, bancassurance, investment banking, foreign exchange and securities trading.
The bank has a network of 140 branches and aims to deploy more automated teller machines in addition to 263 at the end of June 2023.