Philippine Savings Bank, the thrift bank arm of the Metrobank Group, said Tuesday net income in the first half rose 2 percent to P1.18 billion from P1.16 billion a year ago.
The bank said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the growth was driven by an 18-percent expansion in core income to P6.06 billion.
“Our first-half results validate our core banking strategy anchored on customer experience and digitalization. We continue to post a strong financial performance with our retail business growing organically by double-digits, without increasing our brick and mortar branch network,” PSBank president Vicente Cuna Jr. said in a statement.
“We continue to innovate products and services and develop operational efficiencies while observing prudence. All these things, we do for our customers and stakeholders,” he said.
Stable demand for consumer loans continued to fuel the expansion of the bank’s total lending portfolio, which grew to P137.01 billion from P121.35 billion. Auto loans solidified the bank’s market position, recording a 20-percent growth in the first half.
Total deposits surged 32 percent to P183.61 billion from P139.34 billion, with low-cost current account, savings account deposits increasing 16 percent.
Total capital adequacy ratio”•a measure of financial strength”•stood at 14.2 percent while Tier 1 ratio reached 11.3 percent, above the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ benchmark of 10 percent and 9.3 percent, respectively.
Non-performing loans ratio remained at 1.1 percent as of end-June. PSBank currently has 250 branches and 613 ATMs nationwide.