Lender Security Bank Corp. saw a 17-percent growth in net profit to P10.1 billion last year on higher interest income and fee-based earnings as well as strong trading gains.
For the fourth quarter of 2019 alone, Security Bank’s net profit increased by 16 percent to P2.4 billion, the bank disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday.
Return on shareholders’ equity for 2019 increased to 8.9 percent from 8.1 percent in the previous year.
Driven by the continued growth of retail loans and funding from low-cost deposits, the total loan book expanded by 9 percent to P456 billion.
Total net interest income increased by 29 percent to P26.8 billion while net interest margin in 2019 improved by 66 basis points to 3.93 percent.
Service charges, fees and commissions grew revenues by 40 percent to P4.1 billion, driven by credit cards, loan fees, deposit charges and bancassurance, or the cross-selling of insurance products.
Like many of its peers, Security Bank’s results were buoyed by treasury windfall. Securities trading gains amounted to P1.5 billion, up by 320 percent from the same period last year.
Total non-interest income increased by 49 percent to P7.1 billion.