Bank of Commerce posts 34% growth in nine-month earnings

MANILA  -Bank of Commerce (BankCom), the banking arm of conglomerate San Miguel Corp., booked record high earnings during the first nine months of 2023 on higher net interest income and fees.

From January to September this year, BankCom saw profits grow 34 percent to P2 billion while gross revenues hit P7.3 billion, up 25 percent over the same period last year, the lender said in a stock exchange filing on Tuesday.

The bank said earnings during the nine-month period of 2023 outpaced full-year profits in 2022 by 12 percent.

This was due to net interest earnings of P6.1 billion, up 26 percent, and non-interest income of P1.22 billion, higher by 21 percent over the same period last year.

“This historic high performance translated to an [return on equity] of 9.27 percent,” BankCom said.

“Sustained growth in the bank’s core revenue streams, higher interest margins and growth in fee-based income (investment banking, credit card, trust, and trade finance) were the main drivers of the solid performance,” it added.

Credit provisions stood at P222.43 billion while non-performing loans coverage ratio was at 97.88 percent at the end of September. Gross NPL stood at 1.98 percent, the filing showed.

Operating expenses, excluding credit expenses, grew 10 percent to P4.33 billion due to higher “compensation and benefits, service fees and commission, subscription and management and professional fees”.

BankCom ended the period with total assets of P224.31 billion, up 3 percent, while total loans and receivables expanded by 6 percent to P111.58 billion.