United Coconut Planters Bank
United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) grew its net profit last year by 22 percent to a record-high P4.08 billion on higher earnings from core lending and treasury businesses.
UCPB president and chief executive officer Higinio Macadaeg Jr. said the bank was now targeting to “sustain the double-digit core earnings growth this year, anchored on the continued expansion of our consumer and middle market lending operations and a greater push to increase non-interest revenues from our other fee-based services like bancassurance.”
“As we celebrate the bank’s 55th anniversary in 2018, we will stay the course and do things even better to achieve our strategic direction,” he said.
In a press statement on Monday, UCPB’s record performance in 2017 was attributed to the expansion of its loan portfolio and deposit base.
The bank ended last year with a P171.7-billion loan book, up by 10 percent from the previous year’s level, as both consumer and corporate loans recorded double-digit growth.
On the funding side, deposits also went up by P13.9 billion or 5.2 percent to P279.5 billion from the previous year.
The bank said its interest income had grown by 7 percent to P14.2 billion. Non-interest income also increased by 5.2 percent to P2.7 billion, attributed to hefty trading and securities gains and revenues from a newly launched bancassurance business.
Launched in April 2017 in partnership with two leading insurance companies, COCOLIFE and UCPB GEN, UCPB’s bancassurance – or cross-selling of insurance products through its branches – was cited as a new and steady income source for the bank. This new business generated P1.05 billion in premiums in only nine months.
UCPB expects to double premium production from the bancassurance business following the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ approval for an offering of variable life insurance, a hybrid life insurance with an investment component.
The bank also recently launched its UCPB Visa Debit/EMV card, contributing to the fee income business. This product earned recognition from VISA for obtaining the highest debit card growth in 2017.
UCPB was likewise among the first among its banking peers to complete its migration to the EMV technology in 2017.
EMV or (Europay, Mastercard and Visa) chip-enabled cards have enhanced features that verify transactions made on card, which in turn, limit the cases of fraud incidents and identity theft.