PSBank posts P1.5 B in profits for first nine months

MANILA, Philippines—Philippine Savings Bank, the thrift-bank arm of the Metrobank group, posted a one-percent increase in nine-month net profits to P1.55 billion from a year ago as higher earnings from loans and investment made up for a slack in trading gains.

The January to September results translated into an annualized return on equity (ROE) of 16 percent and earnings per share of P6.44 for the period, the bank disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday.

Loans and investments interest revenue rose by P880 million, offsetting a decline of P831 million in trading income. The growth in interest earnings was in turn driven by a 12-percent expansion in customer loans and 15 percent growth in investments.

The increase in earning assets was supported by a 16-percent expansion in deposit base to P14 billion.

“While our nine-month results were just slightly ahead of last year’s performance, we are pleased with the performance as it reflected good growth of our core business. The results reflected progress in building our presence in the consumer segment as we saw consumer loans growing by 12 percent,” PSBank President Pascual M. Garcia III said in a press statement.

“We added 14 branches to our network and installed 91 cash machines predominantly in LRT 1 and LRT 2 lines. We are moving closer to our goal of reaching 200 branches and 500 ATMs by year end,” he added.

PSBank was recently ranked by the Asian Bankers Magazine as the fifth strongest bank among the Philippine’s 38 commercial and 73 thrift banks. It was also given the distinction as one of the strongest banks in the Asia Pacific Region.