Security Bank earns P4.66 B in H1

MANILA, Philippines - Security Bank Corp. registered a net income of P4.657 billion in the first half of 2015, a 29 percent increase from the same period last year, driven by significant growth in the bank’s core businesses.

Loans grew 20 percent year-on-year to P207 billion while deposits increased 18 percent to P257 billion, fueling a 15 percent rise in the bank’s total assets of P442 billion.

Interest income on loans rose 17 percent, contributing to total interest income growth of 11 percent year-on-year.

Interest expenses, on the other hand, increased 46 percent year-on-year, reflecting the effect of the longer-term funding that the bank issued such as the $300-million senior unsecured notes in February 2015, resulting in the same year-ago level of net interest income at P5.8 billion.

Non-interest income, excluding trading gain, was at P2.3 billion, 58 percent higher than in the first half of 2014. Trading gains from trading portfolio and customer flows totaled P906 million  while fee-based income inclusive of asset management amounted to P947 million.

Security Bank’s operating expenses, excluding provisions for credit losses and impairments, grew 28 percent due to taxes incurred from the sale of securities in the first quarter of the year. Marketing and advertising also added to the increased expenses of the bank’s retail banking strategy.

“We are focused on the execution of our strategy aimed at growing our retail banking business into a strong third pillar complementing our strengths in wholesale banking and financial markets businesses. Retail banking is a steady-growth, sustainable and higher margin business which is less volatile than cyclical businesses,” Security Bank president and chief executive officer Alfonso L. Salcedo Jr. said.

In the second quarter, the bank earned P1.3 billion lower than the P1.4 billion income projected by leading global financial services JP Morgan Chase & Co.

Security Bank said its asset quality remains healthy, with net non-performing loans (NPL) ratio at 0.14 percent as of June 2015 compared to the 0.25 percent NPL ratio in the first half of 2014.

Security Bank is among the Philippines’ leading universal banks serving retail, commercial, institutional and corporate clients and currently has 257 branches and 532 automated teller machines nationwide.