Bank of Commerce posts P579-million unaudited net income

MANILA, Philippines -  The Bank of Commerce reported an unaudited net income of P579 million in 2011, nearly eight percent lower than the previous year’s P629 million.

The slight dip from the previous year’s earnings was by design as the bank had to clean up its books, increase provisioning for losses and investments in technology and hardware.

But Bank of Commerce president and chief executive officer Sergio G. Edeza pointed out that the bank’s strong security and trading gains in the last quarter of the year helped surpass its full year target. The bank has set a P557-million net income target for 2011.

At the end of December, its capital base ballooned to P19.6 billion from P16.7 billion in 2010.

“That’s more than what is required to qualify for an expanded commercial bank or universal banking license,” Edeza said.

The bank’s provisioning is reportedly over 71 percent of total loans.

Capital adequacy ratio (CAR), a universal measure of a bank’s health, stood at more than 21 percent or double the 10 percent required by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BAP) and the eight-percent recommended by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), whose membership include majority of the world’s central banks.

Edeza said that the bank would be more aggressive in generating more deposits and loans, and making more investments to boost the bank’s ability to lend further.

The bank operates a total of 122 branches nationwide.

Edeza said they expect to raise their automated teller machine (ATM) network.

From 185 ATMs in-branch and offsite in 2010, the number ballooned to 297 at the end of 2011. “Our target is to expand it further to a total of 500 ATM this year,” he said.

Of the total operating ATMs, 60 are located in Petron gas stations. The Bank of Commerce is part of the San Miguel Group of Companies, which include Petron Corp.

Edeza’s plan is to put one ATM in every Petron station, which stands at 1,700 nationwide. “I understand that Petron plans to increase that to 3,000 in the next few years, and we will try to keep pace in terms of ATMs.”