EastWest Bank (EW) of the Gotianun Group posted a net income of P4.9 billion in the first nine months of 2023, exceeding the full-year net income of 2022.
Strong loan growth pushed EW’s financial performance past pandemic levels. Return on equity stood at 10.3 percent, the bank said.
Net income improved by 60 percent from P3.0 billion, as revenues increased 26 percent to P25.6 billion, driven mostly by the growth of its consumer lending portfolio.
Its consumer lending portfolio, accounting for 79 percent of total loans, grew 26 percent year-on-year, led by credit cards, auto, salary and personal loan segments.
This was supported by stable funding sources as total deposits grew by 6 percent to P338.0 billion, almost entirely from CASA deposits. This allowed the Bank to sustain its net interest margin (NIM) expansion to 7.7 percent.
Non-interest income increased 59 percent to P5.1 billion. Fees and commission climbed 35 percent to P3.5 billion as banking transactions grew in line with lending growth. Trading income also contributed P453.5 million to non-interest income growth, despite the volatile macroeconomic environment.
Operating expenses stood at P14.6 billion, growing by 16 percent, driven largely by manpower, IT and business-related expenses.
“We continue to invest heavily on our people and technology to enhance customer experience as their needs continuously evolve and our processes become more efficient. This aligns with our goal of becoming a consumer bank of choice, providing easier access to credit to those who need it,” said EastWest chief executive Jerry Ngo.
Total assets reached P444.7 billion, up by 10 percent from the same period last year, while total loans and receivables grew 18 percent or P44.1 billion to P283.7 billion, as the bank continued to benefit from the sustained demand for consumer loans.
Total deposits grew 6 percent to P338.0 billion, with CASA deposits increasing by 7 percent.
Capital ratios continued to stand at a healthy 13.7 percent and 12.9 percent for capital adequacy ratio (CAR) and common equity tier 1 (CET1) ratio, respectively, above the regulatory requirements.
“Our nine-month results that surpassed last year’s net income came from the steady growth in our core recurring income. Our asset base continues to expand as we focus our efforts on higher-yielding loans and low-cost deposits. Profitability however, is still far from where it used to be but with our growth momentum, we’ll get there soon,” Ngo said.
