Philippine National Bank, a universal bank controlled by taipan Lucio Tan, yesterday reported a net income of P2.11 billion in the first nine months of the year, up 134 percent year-on-year.
PNB said its nine-month profit was already 88 percent higher than the income it posted in the full of 2008 and that its performance this year would be its best in 12 years.
PNB attributed the higher profit to the 50-percent increase in operating income to P5.6 billion. Net trading gains soared 215 percent to P1.02 billion from a year ago because of favorable mark-to-market valuations at the end of September.
Mark-to-market valuations of securities plummeted last year with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, resulting in huge losses for many banks across the globe.
PNB also reported a bigger income on the sale of properties. It said the increase in all other operating income components was more than sufficient to cover the reduction in foreign exchange profit caused by the lower revaluation of foreign currency denominated accounts.
Net interest income expanded 30 percent to P6 billion from P4.7 billion a year ago as it reported increases in its business volume and wider interest margins.
Total loans and receivables climbed 24 percent to P113.9 billion as it expanded its relationships with existing clients and acquired new ones as well as with participation in big-ticket syndicated loans.
Cross selling efforts also enabled the bank to increase its consumer lending business, specifically home and auto loans to overseas Filipino clients.
Deposits grew 5 percent to P211 billion.. The share of the bank’s loans to total assets rose to 40 percent from just 33 percent in end-December.
Resources totaled P286 billion at the end of September, up P9 billion or 3.4 percent higher than the December 2008 level. The bank said the growth in assets was funded by the 5-percent expansion in deposits and the 9- percent increase in stockholders equity.
PNB’s capital to risks ratio stood at 18 percent at the end of the nine-month period, well above the regulatory requirement of 18 percent.
Operating expenses rose 32 percent because of higher provisioning for impairment and credit losses. The bank said it set aside P1.1 billion in additional provisioning to cover for loans and receivables.
Bad loans ratio also improved to 6.9 percent at the end of September from 10.6 percent a year ago.
