EastWest Bank nets P455.7 M in Q1

Screengrab from www.eastwestbanker.com

MANILA—EastWest Bank posted a 38-percent year-on-year decline in first-quarter net profit to P455.7 million as treasury gains declined versus last year.

In a press statement on Thursday, EastWest Bank reported that its lower trading revenues were, however, offset by the strong gains on its core banking businesses.

Customer loans increased by 37.1 percent to end the period at P102.0 billion, with both corporate and consumer lending businesses posting double-digit growth of 47.8 percent and 28.4 percent, respectively.

On the funding side, total deposits stood at P122.9 billion, growing by 41.8 percent year-on-year with low-cost current account/savings account deposits up by 50.5 percent on account of its expanded branch network.

In the first quarter, the bank also maintained its net interest margin of 8 percent, among the highest in the industry, driven by significant consumer portfolio and improvement in its funding costs.

EastWest reported that it had the highest proportion of consumer loans among universal banks, with 52 percent of its loan portfolio in this consumer segment.

Net interest income in the first quarter increased by 23.7 percent to P2.3 billion while interest expense declined by 23.9 percent despite the surge in deposits.

Non-interest income, excluding trading gains, went up by 22.9 percent to P800.1 million. These are largely recurring fee-based income, driven by the growth in consumer loans business and transactional income from the branches.

“However, the bank was not spared by the industry wide decline in trading gains as interest rates started to move higher and volatility increased in both fixed income and currency markets,” the bank said.