Security Bank saw a 16.6-percent year-on-year decline in first quarter net profit to P2.35 billion as securities trading gains were halved from year-ago level.
The bank also reported a P311-million increase in income tax provision during the quarter, based on a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange.
Three-month core revenue —composed of net interest income, fee-based income and trading gains attributable to customer flows—were up by 15 percent from year-ago level.
Net interest income from customer loans and deposits rose by 43 percent year-on-year to P3.6 billion in the first quarter.
The bank expanded its loan book by 20 percent year-on-year to P367 billion. Corporate loan growth was 16 percent while middle market loan growth was 13 percent.
On the other hand, consumer loan growth accelerated to 54 percent year-on-year. With the roll-out of small business loans and personal loans in early 2017, Security Bank has a full plate of consumer loan products consisting of home, auto, credit card, personal and small business loans, which helped net interest margin to be sustained at 3.3 percent during the quarter.
Consumer lending now accounts for 17 percent of total portfolio.
Interest income from financial investments decreased as the bank shrunk its securities portfolio by 11 percent year-on-year through securities sale.
Service charges, fees and commissions grew by 45 percent to P683 million, led by bancassurance, credit card and loan fees.
On the funding side, deposits grew by 11 percent year-on-year to P420 billion. Low-cost deposits increased by 20 percent.
Recently, Security Bank raised P5.781 billion worth of long-term negotiable certificates of deposits with tenor of 5.5 years at 4.5 percent per annum.
Total assets stood at P703 billion. Asset quality remained healthy, with gross nonperforming loan (NPL) ratio at 0.7 percent of total loans, lower than the 0.9 percent a year ago and same level as quarter ago.