MANILA, Philippines — Philippine National Bank grew its net profit last year by 61 percent to P3.54 billion, a record high in recent years, as hefty trading gains complemented steady interest earnings.
Return-on-equity sprung back to double-digit levels at 11 percent,
up from 7 percent a year ago, the bank reported on Tuesday.
The bank’s strong earnings performance was buoyed by the 21 percent growth in non-interest income of P9.1 billion.
PNB considerably built up its trading portfolio during the year with trading assets growing 86 percent. Net gains on trading and investment securities more than doubled to P3.03 billion.
Net interest margins, on the other hand, remained fairly at the same level at P7.8 billion from a year ago.
The bank said the increase in earning assets compensated for the reduction in spreads spawned by the market liquidity in 2010.