AUB hit record-high 9-month income on strong loan biz
Ng-led Asia United Bank (AUB) saw nine-month profits this year soar 32 percent to a record-high of P6.1 billion on strong growth across its consumer and corporate lending segments.
Total operating income from January to September jumped 21 percent to P13.3 billion versus the same period in 2022, mainly as net interest income climbed 20 percent to P11.2 billion. Non-interest income also grew 27 percent to P2.1 billion during the period.
“With our stronger performance in the first three quarters, we expect to maintain our lead among the country’s top 10 listed universal banks in terms of compounded annual growth rate on key indicators since AUB was listed on the bourse in 2013,” AUB president Manuel A. Gomez said in a statement last week.
Gains during the nine-month period pushed up the bank’s return on equity to 19.4 percent. Its return on asset also grew to 2.5 percent from 1.9 percent a year ago.
Growth was driven by total loan volume growth of 7 percent to P188.2 billion while net interest margin increased to 4.9 percent from 4.1 percent.
“Strong contributions to its non-interest income mainly came from AUB’s operating activities such as trading businesses, credit cards, AUB PayMate, and remittance,” the lender said.
The bank ended the period with a net non-performing loan (NPL) ratio of 0.67 percent and gross NPL ratio of 2.14 percent—below the industry average, indicating resilient asset quality.
Nevertheless, AUB maintained a conservative outlook as it raised the NPL coverage ratio to 107 percent as of end-September from 89.1 percent last year. Credit provisions during the period also went up 12 percent to P1.1 billion.
“While we are seeing that the domestic economy has emerged strongly from the pandemic and many sectors are now on the path to recovery, we remain cautious of the confluence of global shocks that are unraveling,” Gomez said.
“We expect monetary policy to remain hawkish, with inflation still not kept at bay. On the other hand, we see plenty of room for growth and collaboration, particularly in digital transformation,” he added.
AUB ended the period with assets of P344 billion, up 8 percent, while equity increased by 20 percent to P45.5 billion. This translated to a common equity tier 1 ratio of 16.12 percent and a capital adequacy ratio 16.77 percent, both above the regulatory requirement.
