EAST West Banking Corp., a unit of the Filinvest Group, booked a net income of P5.1 billion in 2017, up 48 percent from P3.4 billion in 2016, on sustained growth across all business segments.
“We are pleased to see the 48-percent increase in net income after 2016’s 70-percent increase. We appreciate the efforts of EWBankers that made this possible,” chief executive officer Antonio Moncupa Jr. said in a statement Thursday.
“I am sure these results will only motivate our colleagues to continue to exert efforts to serve our customers better and show their deep appreciation for our customers’ continued trust and confidence in EastWest,” Moncupa said.
The bank’s 2017 performance translated into a return on equity of 13.8 percent, the highest reported among listed universal banks. Total assets grew 8.8 percent year-on-year.
The bank’s net interest margin stood at 7.8 percent, the highest in the banking industry mainly because of its consumer lending businesses.
Net interest margin, net of provisions for loan losses, a metric that makes comparison among banks more meaningful, was at an industry leading 5.9 percent.
Return on assets was at 1.7 percent. The bank’s net revenues reached P25.6 billion, 17 percent higher on year.
Core earnings that exclude trading and non-recurring revenues, reached P24.2 billion, up 21 percent, as net interest income and fee-based income rose 19.8 percent and 29.2 percent, respectively.
Trading income, however,dropped 16.6 percent to P760 million.
“We thank our customers for our best year so far. Their continued patronage allowed us to make progress in improving productivity,” bank president Bobby Reyes said.
Operating expenses reached P13.9 billion, 19.1 percent higher than the previous year as the bank invested in broadening and deepening the senior management bench to prime the bank for further growth moving forward.
Total loans increased 10.7 percent to P220.1 billion as consumer loans grew 17 percent to P160.3 billion.