MANILA, Philippines—State-owned Development Bank of the Philippines announced a double-digit rise in net income in the first four months, crediting lending to priority sectors as one of the key drivers of profit expansion.
In a statement Tuesday, DBP said it generated a net income of P1.32 billion from January to April, up by close to 16 percent from P1.14 billion in the same period a year ago.
DBP President and chief executive officer Francisco del Rosario said in the statement that the bank’s financial performance has enabled it to support various development initiatives, including the government’s public-private partnership (PPP) program, through loans.
He said loans extended by DBP largely benefited infrastructure, environment-related initiatives, eco-tourism projects, MSMEs [micro, small and medium enterprises], and social services programs including housing, healthcare and community development.
“The bank will scale up credit assistance to promising growth industries and government programs and projects especially in infrastructure development. DBP will likewise capitalize on its expertise in offering technical and financial advisories, and extend its marketing reach especially in the countryside,” Del Rosario said in the statement.
Data showed that DBP’s loan portfolio amounted to P151.82 billion as of the end of April, up by 4 percent from P145.46 billion as of the same period in 2010.
Of the latest amount of outstanding loans, P20 billion was lent to finance infrastructure projects.
Del Rosario said DBP maintained lending to the MSME sector as a priority, as it continued to operate its Retail Lending Program for Micro Small Enterprises and its participation in the Credit Surety Fund (CSF) program of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
Under its retail lending program, DBP already approved P641.9 million worth of loans to small borrowers from July 1, 2010, to March 31, 2010.
The CSF, meantime, is a program that gathers contributors to pool funds that shall be used to guarantee loans secured by micro and small enterprises in localities. The objective of CSF is to make micro and small enterprises access bank loans more easily.
DBP already contributed to 20 CSFs in the country, the bank said.
Besides DBP, local government units and non-government organizations participate in the CSF.
The increase in loans extended by DBP was aided partly by the increase in deposits placed in DBP. Deposits as of the end of April reached P128.5 billion, up by 11 percent from 115.43 billion as of the same period a year ago.
Total assets of DBP reached P302.5 billion, rising by 9.7 percent from P275.58 billion over the same period.
DBP has a comfortable capital level, according to Del Rosario, adding that the bank is more than prepared to meet potentially tighter capital requirements by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
DBP said its latest capital adequacy ratio (CAR), which measured the proportion of capital to its risk-exposed assets, stood at 18.93 percent, higher than the 10 percent required by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.