East West Bank 2016 net up 70%

Gotianun-led East West Bank grew its profit last year by 70 percent to P3.4 billion on higher earnings from core lending activities.

The bank’s loan book rose by 29 percent to P202 billion, while total deposits went up by 30 percent to P240 billion, underpinned by a 38-percent increase in low-cost deposits.

Core recurring income went up by 25 percent.  Net interest income grew to P15.4 billion last year from P12.3 billion in the previous year.

The bank sustained its industry-leading net interest margin of 7.7 percent.  Net interest margin, net of provisions for loan losses, was recorded at 4.9 percent, the highest among universal and commercial banks.

The increase in core earnings was complemented by a 138-percent jump in securities trading gains to P911.5 million.

EastWest pitches itself as the most consumer-focused universal bank in the country with more than half of its loan portfolio lent to consumers.

“As previously mentioned, 2016 will show the early results of our expansion program that started in 2012.  This puts behind us the worst of the initial pain of the program that brought us to have the seventh largest store network but kept our income flat at P2 billion in the previous three years,” said EastWest president and chief operating officer Antonio Moncupa Jr.

The bank had targeted to grow earnings by 50 percent last year as it expected to reap the fruits of an aggressive expansion program that saw its nationwide branch network almost triple in five years to 445, including the distribution channel of its rural bank subsidiary.