Security Bank nets record-high P7.7B

SECURITY Bank marked 2015 as a banner year, chalking up a record-high net profit of P7.7 billion on the back of strong growth in core revenues.

The net profit last year marked a 7-percent expansion from the previous year and translated to a return on equity of 15.2 percent. As earlier hinted, the bank has beaten the previous all-time high profit level of P7.5 billion posted in 2012.

Security Bank president and chief executive officer Alfonso Salcedo Jr. said in a press statement on Wednesday: “2015 results exceeded our expectations. Customer loans grew at rates significantly above industry with no deterioration in the net NPL (non-performing loan) ratio. Likewise, deposits outpaced industry growth.”

“Core revenues are growing robustly, with the increase progressively making up for lower trading gains. Our three core businesses — wholesale banking, retail banking, and financial markets/treasury — all contributed to produce record net profits this year,” Salcedo added.

The bank grew its loan book by 24 percent year-on-year to P240 billion while deposits also expanded by 17 percent to P290 billion.

Corporate and commercial loans increased by 21 percent while key consumer loan portfolios -composed of home and auto loans and credit card receivables – rose by 67 percent.

Net interest income increased by 11 percent to P12.4 billion. Net interest margin (NIM) stood at 3.3 percent.

Non-interest income likewise rose by 16 percent to P6.5 billion, driven by a 38 percent increase
in fee-based income. The bank cited solid contribution from retail banking services such as bancassurance, credit cards and deposit transactions, as well as from asset management.

The bank earned P2 billion in gain on sale of securities, lower than the P3.1 billion posted in 2014.

Core revenues — which comprise net interest income, fee-based income and trading gains attributable to customer flows — grew by 15 percent to P15.6 billion.