Manuel A. Gomez, President of Asia United Bank (AUB), one of the country’s fastest-growing publicly listed banks, reported sustained growth in 2018, during the annual stockholder’s meeting. He placed much-deserved credit on the ability of the entire institution to remain agile in changing times.
The 2018 full-year performance of the bank resulted in an overall net income of 16% with the 19% increase in net interest income as main earnings driver. Furthermore, the report attributed further growth to posted year-on-year 19% increase in assets, 19% increase in loans, and 21% increase in deposits.
Embracing technology-driven transformation, strategic partnerships, and critical alliances, as well as enhanced customer experiences, AUB has managed to remain steadfast in its commitment to fully understand and anticipate client needs. These innovations have allowed AUB to realize headways in the consumer market particularly in the QR payment acceptance among local merchants after their development of the AUB Paymate app.
Manuel A. Gomez, AUB President said: “The AUB Paymate app, our 2017 digital innovation that enabled accredited merchants to accept QR payments, allowed AUB to gain more grounds in this field. With our partnership with WeChat in 2017, AUB was the pioneer Philippine QR Partner of e-wallet giants AliPay and UnionPay.”
This move remains in line with the belief that in these technology-driven times, Asia United Bank will utilize technology as its key enabler and differentiator.
In terms of presence, the bank successfully increased its branch network and workforce which resulted in a total of 262 branches nationwide in 2018. Despite the business expansion, AUB continued to rationalize expenses; thus, cost to income ratio was recorded at 49.77%, lower than the industry average of 63.56%. This feat is due also in part to moves that aim to optimize efficiency in both branch marketing and operations, starting with the appointment of high performing and high potential leaders.
The 2018 expansion focused on provincial key cities critical to the business such as Cebu, Davao, General Santos and Cagayan de Oro, where the bank strengthened its lending organization to build both the consumer and commercial loans portfolio.
“The bank will continue to strengthen its geographical presence in areas demonstrating vibrant business activities. We will continue with branch expansion as we target to open 10 new branches this year,” said Manuel A. Gomez.
The Bank’s Board of Directors approved the declaration of cash dividends amounting to One Peso and Eighty Centavos (P1.80) per share which is to be paid in two tranches. The first tranche’s amount of dividend is P1.00/share with a record date of June 17, 2019 and payment date of July 11, 2019. The second tranche’s amount of dividend is P0.80/share with a record date of September 20, 2019 and payment date of October 16, 2019.
ADVT