THE REBISCO group’s banking arm Asia United Bank (AUB) grew net profit in the first quarter by 27.6 percent year-on-year to P572.9 million, driven by higher interest earnings.
Amid the financial market volatility that marked the quarter, AUB and its subsidiaries continued to intensify lending activities and generate deposits from a wider branch network nationwide, the bank said on Monday.
The AUB group – composed of publicly listed universal bank AUB and two rural bank units – recorded a 22.7 percent surge in loans and receivables to P89.5 billion for the period ended March.
The bank said that its increased presence in commercial lending, as well as in the auto, mortgage, small and medium enterprises and salary loan segments, led to a P1.8-billion interest income during the quarter. This marked a 25.1 percent rise year-on-year.
Interest income from trading and investment securities rebounded by 11.1 percent to P354.9 million despite the continued drop in interest rates. Net interest income increased by 20.6 percent to P1.3 billion year-on-year.
AUB also reported that it had sustained a double-digit growth in deposits to end the first quarter at P124.2 billion, up by 26.1 percent year-on-year. The group reached out to more customers through its consolidated distribution network of 229 branches, of which 208 belonged to the parent universal bank and 21 to the rural bank.