UBP Q2 income rises 46% to P2.6b

Aboitiz-led Union Bank of the Philippines grew its second quarter net profit by 46 percent year-on-year to P2.6 billion, reversing the profit slump in the first quarter on the back of stronger net interest earnings and trading gains.

This brought the bank’s six-month net profit to P4.8 billion, up by 2 percent year-on-year, UnionBank disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday.

Higher fee income from consumer businesses and securities trading gains also contributed to the improved bottom line in the first semester.

The strong second quarter performance reversed the 24-percent year-on-year profit decline in the first quarter.

This translated to a return on equity of 10.6 percent and return on assets of 1.4 percent.

Based on independent estimates, UnionBank’s second quarter trading gains likely reached around P635 million in the second quarter, reversing the P6.2-million loss in the same period last year.

For the six-month period, net interest income increased by 16 percent year-on-year to P9.84 billion.

“The continuous improvement of our margins contributed to our strong topline results. Opex (operating expense) growth was also kept manageable amid the integration of PR Savings Bank with CitySavings and continued investments in digital transformation. We are optimistic that we can sustain this momentum for the rest of the year, with potential upsides to our margins, as interest rates start to normalize,” said Jose Emmanuel Hilado, UnionBank treasurer and chief financial officer.

As of end-June, Union Bank’s total assets rose by 13 percent year-on-year to P704.5 billion. Customer loans amounted to P328.3 billion.

The credit card, consumer and commercial loan businesses rose by 39 percent, 31 percent and 16 percent, respectively.

“We are clearly seeing the fruits of our transformation push. Our improved efficiencies enabled us to onboard more retail customers into our platforms. We were able to manage expenses without slowing down on our strategic initiatives. Moreover, we successfully launched our technology and innovation company, UBX. Our i2i and XLog platforms are gaining traction, and we are on our way towards building an MSME (micro, small and medium enterprise) lending platform in partnership with the fintech arm of one of the world’s largest financial institutions (Ping An’s OneConnect),” said Edwin Bautista, UnionBank president and chief executive officer. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA