MANILA, Philippines--RCBC, the country's fourth largest private universal bank in terms of capital base, recorded robust net income growth of 47 percent in the first nine months of 2009 to P2.82 billion from last year’s P1.92 billion.

In a statement, the Yuchengco family-controlled bank said operating income expanded by P1.93 billion to P12.11 billion, with net interest income and non-interest income increasing by 19.4 percent and 18.3 percent, respectively.

RCBC’s net interest income was P1.23 billion higher than the previous year’s P6.32 billion, while non-interest income improved by P707 million from P3.85 billion to P4.56 billion.

Growth in non-interest income was primarily accounted for by strong trading gains. Excluding the gain from sale of an office building booked in 2008, non-interest income growth would have been a more robust 33.4 percent. The results also reflect a P739-million increase in provisioning to provide for future contingencies, loan losses and losses from recent storms.

Total consolidated resources reached P269.4 billion as of end-September 2009, a P21.1-billion or 8.5-percent improvement from the Sept. 2008 level of P248.3 billion.

This growth was funded by the P16.3 billion increase in deposits from P179.7 billion to P196 billion.

Likewise, the bank’s net loans and receivables grew by 8 percent from P134.2 billion to P145 billion for the first nine months of the year. SME lending was especially strong, with the book expanding 18 percent from P7.6 billion to P9 billion during the period. Daxim L. Lucas