Asia United Bank’s Q1 profit up 16%

MANILA, Philippines — The first-quarter earnings of the Ng family’s Asia United Bank (AUB) reached P2.3 billion, a 16-percent jump as margins grew and loan provisions declined.

“With interest rates expected to remain elevated throughout the year, and global shocks a continuing concern, we will remain agile to sustain our performance,” AUB president Manuel Gomez said in their stock exchange filing on Thursday.

Net interest margin rose 10 percent to P4 billion on revenue growth from loans and investment activities.

The bank’s performance in the first three months of the year resulted in a record return on equity of 20 percent from 19.9 percent. Return on assets, meanwhile, reached 2.8 percent from 2.5 percent previously.

Loan loss provisions dropped by 89 percent to P78 million. At the same time, its nonperforming loans ratio eased to 0.47 percent from 1 percent.

READ: AUB profits soared to a record high of P8.3B in 2023

Higher compensation, capital expenditures, and “business growth-related expenses” pushed up operating expenses by 12 percent.

As of the end of March, AUB’s total assets were up by 6 percent to P346.7 billion, while the bank’s loan portfolio increased 1.8 percent to P188.3 billion.

“We aim to deliver consistent performance throughout 2024, so we can remain as a ‘challenger bank’ among the country’s top listed universal banks,” Gomez said.

READ: AUB, Alipay partner for cross-border payments

Last year, AUB partnered with Chinese fintech giant Alipay to allow cross-border payments as more tourists visited the country.

Under the partnership, international payments platform Alipay+ allowed local merchants to accept digital payments from AlipayHK (Hong Kong), Kakao Pay (South Korea) and Touch ‘n Go eWallet (Malaysia).