Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., the 10-largest lender in terms of assets, said net unaudited consolidated income in the first half fell 6 percent to P2.2 billion from P2.35 billion a year ago on lower trading gains.
The bank said in a statement Friday excluding non-recurring income (trading gains), core income grew 47 percent from a year ago, reflecting the robust growth in earnings from core businesses.
Net interest income rose 12 percent to P9.7 billion year-on-year. Even with the intense pricing competition, the bank still achieved an annualized net interest margin of 3.98 percent, which remains one of the highest in the sector.
The bank’s lending business is vibrant with net loans and receivables expanding by 14 percent to P372 billion. All market segments sustained their solid growth with 11-percent growth in corporate loans, 36-percent increase in SME Loans, 17-percent rise in consumer loans and 33-percent expansion in credit card receivables.
“The bank’s trajectory is on an uptrend. We’re above target for the first half of 2018. With the new P15 billion capital raised in July, we will remain focused on growing our lending business especially the consumer and SME and micro-finance business throughout the Philippines,” RCBC president and chief executive officers, Gil Buenaventura said in a statement.
Rizal MicroBank, the micro-finance unit of the bank that provides financing requirements for micro and small enterprises, increased its outstanding loan portfolio by 27 percent year on year.
RCBC Bankard has a strong and active card base of 625,000 in the first half of 2018, up 16 percent from a year ago.
Despite the sustained growth momentum in loans, asset quality remained well-managed with consolidated NPL ratios of 1.18 percent, better than 1.35 percent in the same period last year. NPL coverage improved to 100 percent from the previous year’s 80 percent at the consolidated level, and a healthier 151 percent at the parent bank level.
