EastWest Banking Corp. said Tuesday net income declined by 61 percent in the first half to P1.5 billion from P3.8 billion a year ago on lower fixed-income trading revenues.
The bank said in a statement this translated into a return on equity of 5.2 percent.
EastWest said it booked a net income of P1 billion in the second quarter, almost double the P507.6-million net profit in the first quarter on higher loans and fixed-income securities portfolio.
“Given current trends and Q2 results, for 2022, we now expect total revenues, excluding trading, at P26 billion from the P25 billion guidance in Q1. However, with the uncertain trading income, we still expect net income at around P4.0 billion,” EastWest president Jackie Fernandez said.
“By the fourth quarter, EW quarterly income, ex-trading, should have recovered pre-pandemic levels and trend towards P1.25 billion, or P5.0 billion on an annualized basis,” Fernandez said.
Core revenues, which exclude the volatile trading income, were 5 percent lower at P12.7 billion than P13.4 billion a year earlier.