State-run Land Bank of the Philippines, the fourth-largest lender in terms of assets, raised its 2019 net income growth forecast from 7 percent to 10 percent amid the declining interest rates and reduction in reserve requirement ratios of banks.
The 10-percent growth will translate into a record P17 billion in net profit, up from P15.5 billion last year.
“I think that [10-percent growth] is possible, considering the fact that the previous forecast of a 7-percent growth was made before the policy rates cut and RRR cut by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas,” LandBank president and chief executive Cecilia Borromeo said in a briefing Thursday at the bank’s headquarters in Malate, Manila.
The earlier projection of a 7-percent growth in net income this year was made by former bank president Alex Buenaventura in January.
Borromeo said the recent RRR cut would be positive for the bank as a significant amount of liquidity would be freed up to the financial system. She said the bank was eyeing a 10-percent growth in loans this year to P840 billion from P768.6 billion in 2018. The bank also expects a 5-percent growth in deposits to P1.7 billion from P1.6 billion.