Security Bank profit jumps 115%

Security Bank Corp. jacked up its first-semester net profit by 115 percent year-on-year to P3.61 billion, defying the industry-wide downturn in treasury earnings.

This six-month performance translated to a 17.2-percent return on equity while return on assets stood at 1.9 percent, the country’s eighth-largest private domestic universal bank disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange Tuesday.

Security Bank president and chief executive Alberto Villarosa said: “All of our business segments strongly contributed to the results, thanks to the healthy economy and our strong customer focus and business discipline.”

The six-month earnings were attributed to sustained growth in the bank’s core businesses, with loan portfolio increasing by 30 percent year-on-year to P173 billion, investment securities expanding by 106 percent to P111 billion and deposits growing by 22 percent to P218 billion, which fueled a 31-percent increase in total assets to P385 billion.

For every peso of deposit generated, the bank lent out 79 centavos, thereby turning liabilities into earning assets. Net interest income increased by 46 percent to P5.8 billion in the six-month period while net interest margin was sustained at 3.5 percent, the same level as in 2013.

Core revenues, which consist of net interest income, fee-based income and trading gains attributable to customer flows, increased by 31 percent year-on-year to P7 billion in the first half.

Fee-based income inclusive of asset management was P850 million, rising from P745 million in the same period last year. On the other hand, overall trading gains contributed P1.66 billion in the first semester, much higher than the P279.4 million in the same period last year.

Security Bank’s total operating income increased by 59 percent to P8.4 billion, outpacing the 11.8-percent growth in operating cost.

In terms of asset quality, Security Bank kept its gross non-performing loan (NPL) ratio at a modest 0.57 percent as of June compared to 0.59 percent in the same period last year. The bank forked out P700 million in credit provisions in the first half, further increasing the reserve cover to 297 percent from 266 percent a year ago.