Chinabank net income up 62.5% to P1.8B

China Banking  Corp., a unit of Henry Sy’s SM Investments Corp., reported a net income of P1.79 billion in the first quarter, up 62.5 percent from the same period in 2012, due to the sharp increase in trading and securities revenues.

China Bank told the Philippine Stock Exchange that gross revenues during the period rose by 24.7 percent. This was driven by an 80.7-percent gain in trading and securities revenues as well as higher fee-based revenues.

Customer loan portfolio also expanded by 16.3 percent to P179.5 billion. Moreover, interest revenues from loans and receivables increased by 14.8 percent. China Bank reported that overall net interest income grew by 7.5 percent to P2.1 billion.

It said the figures translated to a 16.44-percent return on equity and a 2.19-percent return on assets.

Expenses, on the other hand, grew 16 percent, although the lender noted that so-called cost efficiency improved to 54.4 percent from 60.2 percent.

China Bank, which opened 23 branches last year, said it plans to open a total of 67 branches in 2013.

It acquired Unity Bank in 2012, which it plans to merge with thrift bank unit China Bank Savings by the second half of 2013. Since the start of the year, China Bank opened three thrift bank branches, bringing the total count to 320 locations.

Non-performing loans dropped by P465.75 million, lowering its non-performing loans ratio to 2.8 percent, the statement showed.

It also reported that  total assets grew 22 percent to P331.6 billion year-on-year, while total deposits grew 22.2 percent to P271.5 billion. Total low-cost deposits stood at P94 billion, up 14.4 percent, the statement showed.