Phil Veterans Bank passes Q1 target

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Veterans Bank (PVB), majority owned by Filipino war veterans, posted an unaudited net income of P484 million in the first quarter of 2013.

In a statement, PVB said the first quarter earnings already surpassed its target of P353 million for the whole 2012.

PVB attributed the strong income performance to substantial gains from securities trading, activities which augmented interest income on the loan side which was affected by the prevailing low interest rates.

PVB’s total resources stood at P56.93 billion as of the same period, P1.98 billion higher than the P54.95 billion level as of December 2012.

Bank officials said there was also a noted increase in deposits, which found its way to incremental loans and marketable securities.

“We’re very satisfied with the bank’s performance this early in the year, thanks to the support of our clients. We are optimistic that the bank will meet or even surpass its growth target of P60 billion total assets by yearend. On the income side, we have already surpassed last year’s annual net income of P355 million,” said PVB president and CEO Ricardo A. Balbido Jr.

PVB’s capital also increased to P9.5 billion, up 34 percent from P7.1 billion of mostly due to retained earnings and net unrealized gains on available for sale financial assets. Its latest capital adequacy ratio was at 19.03 percent, much higher than the Central bank’s minimum requirement of 10 percent.

PVB is owned by some 384,000 Filipino WWII veterans, their widows and heirs.

About 20 percent of the private bank’s net income is annually given to the Board of Trustees for the Veterans of World War II (BTVWWII) which manages programs for the benefit of the WWII veterans and their surviving families.

Today, PVB has become one of the fastest growing commercial banks in the country. Just 10 years ago, it was ranked 32nd among the commercial banks in terms of total assets. Today, it is ranked 18th.

The bank has about 60 branches, of which 11 are located in Mindanao.