China Bank income up 24% in first quarter

MANILA, Philippines - China Banking Corp. has reported a consolidated net income of P884 million for the first three months of 2009, 23.86 percent higher than in 2008, the bank said in a statement.

China Bank chairman Gilbert U. Dee said this positive performance boosted his confidence that the bank’s net income for the whole of 2009 “will surpass last year’s performance.”

Consolidated income in 2008 was registered at P2.92 billion, which was actually lower by 20.76 percent than the P3.6 billion in 2007. However, practically all the commercial banks reported lower income in 2008 due to the worsening global credit conditions on account of the US subprime fiasco.

“It will be a difficult year for all the banks, but we have very loyal bank clients,” Dee said during the bank’s annual stockholders meeting yesterday. “We feel that a 15 to 20 percent growth in loan portfolio will be one of the drivers for growth.”

He said they still have plans to raise fresh capital for their expansion program.

China Bank, a member of the SM Group of Companies, has a loan-loss coverage ratio of almost 93 percent while total capital funds stood at P27.78 billion.

Total resources stood at P207.79 billion while deposits expanded to P170.66 billion.

Capital adequacy ratio (CAR) stood at a healthy 13.34 percent.

Cost-to-income ratio was placed at 58.06 percent while expenses was recorded at P1.59 billion due mainly to branch expansion.

By 2010, China Bank and its thrift unit China Savings Bank will have a combined branch network of 300. The group opened 28 new branches in the past two years, and another 40 branches is targeted to be opened this year.– Ted Torres