Asia United Bank nets P1.5 B in 2013

Screengrab from https://www.aub.com.ph/home

MANILA, Philippines—The Rebisco group’s banking arm, Asia United Bank, grew its net profit last year by 4 percent to P1.5 billion on higher loan margins and gains from the sale of foreclosed properties.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Wednesday, AUB said its loan book jumped by 39 percent to P51 billion while deposit base grew by 56 percent to P74 billion on the back of an aggressive branch network expansion.

Net interest earnings jumped by 55 percent to P2.9 billion as loan portfolio reached P51 billion. The growth in the loan book was fueled by corporate and consumer lending which increased by 45 percent and 29 percent, respectively.

Overall, the bank said it was able to offset the negative impact of lower trading income and higher cost of branch expansion.

Net trading gains fell by 42 percent to P681 million last year.  However, net interest earnings accounted for 65 percent of the bank’s operating income, rising from 51 percent in 2012, while the share of trading gains was pared down to 15 percent from 32 percent in previous year.

Last year’s net profit translated to a return on equity of 9.5 percent.