Union Bank income up 28.5% to P5.4B

Union Bank president and chief operating officer Victor B. Valdepenas said that beyond the nearly 30 percent growth year-on-year, the so far net earnings this year was even more significant.

“That is already equivalent to the full year earnings in 2010 at a time of critical economic crisis in the developed nations,” he said.

In the third quarter alone, net earnings reached P2.5 billion, or 25 percent better than the P2 billion in the same period in 2010.

“Union Bank was able to take advantage of the volatility of the markets,” the bank official added.

Net interest income rose from P5.1 billion in the first nine months of 2010 to P5.2 billion in the same period this year.

The commercial bank of the Aboitiz Group of Companies set aside P623 million in the same period for probable losses from loans from P315 million last year.

Loans grew to P5 billion in the first nine months of 2011, from P4.7 billion in the same period last year. Valdepenas said consumer lending grew 50 percent, with exceptional growth from the auto and mortgage loan sectors.

Total loan portfolio amounted to P100 billion at the end of September this year from P95 billion in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, total resources slipped slightly from P253 billion at end-2010 to P252 billion as of end-September this year.

In 2010, the bank recorded a net income of P5.4 billion, 23.8 percent higher than the P4.3 billion recorded in 2009.

As of end-2010, the bank has a total network of 186 branches, 214 onsite and offsite ATMs, a call center and Internet bank.