Sustained consumer demand lifts PSBank income to P2.2B

MANILA  -The thrift banking arm of industry giant Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. saw net income during the first six months of the year grow 18 percent as favorable conditions pushed up loans and margins.

Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) said profit from January to June grew to nearly P2.2 billion from P1.84 billion during the same period last year.

“The bank, through its recalibrated strategies and focus on enhanced customer experience, was able to benefit from the continued expansion of the economy and the sustained growth in consumer demand for the first six months,” PSBank president Jose Vicente L. Alde said in a statement on Monday.

Net income during the first semester pushed up the lender’s return on equity to 11.4 percent versus 10.4 percent last year.

Core revenues, composed of net interest income from loans and investments including fees, also increased by 8 percent to P6.8 billion during the period, the statement showed.

PSBank’s total loan portfolio expanded by 9 percent to P120 billion during the first half of the year, driven by the 21-percent surge in auto loans.

“The continuing uptrend in the bank’s consumer loan releases, improvement in credit quality, and gains realized from productivity and efficiency initiatives further strengthened the bank’s platform for sustainable earnings in the postpandemic era,” it said in the statement. Gross nonperforming loans also dropped by 11 percent, resulting in a nonperforming loan ratio of 3.5 percent, which was better than the prepandemic level.

“We are hopeful, despite the external headwinds, that this can be sustained for the rest of the year,” Alde said in the statement.

PSBank closed the first semester with total assets of P235 billion. It noted that total deposits also amounted to P187 billion.

It said total capital grew by 7 percent to P39 billion. This brought the total capital adequacy ratio to 24.6 percent and common equity tier 1 ratio to 23.7 percent, both of which were above regulatory requirements. INQ