Asia United Bank gets Aa rating from PRS

MANILA, Philippines - Medium-sized Asia United Bank (AUB) of the Rebisco group obtained an issuer rating of PRS Aa from local credit watcher Philippine Rating Services Corp.

The rating, based on PhilRatings’ scale, suggests the borrower “has a strong capacity to meet its financial commitments relative to other Philippine corporates.”

An issuer rating is an opinion on the general and overall creditworthiness of the issuer, evaluating its ability to meet all its financial obligations within a time horizon of one year. 

In a statement, PhilRatings said its rating had considered the bank’s sound funding profile, profitability, growth strategy, and the positive outlook for the economy.

The bank’s funding profile is considered sound, with the more stable, lower-cost current and savings accounts (CASA) representing the bulk of deposits.

“Forecast shows CASA will continue to be AUB’s primary funding source in 2015 to 2017. As of March 31, deposits accounted for a high 92.3 percent of total liabilities,” PhilRatings said.

PhilRatings said AUB’s business growth in the last five years (2010 to 2014) has been aggressive as the bank continued to pursue its objective of becoming one of the country’s top banks.

From 66 branches as of end-2010, AUB and its subsidiaries ended the first quarter of 2015 with 221 branches which were geographically spread across the country.

The group’s loans and receivables stood at P72.9 billion as of the end of March from P24.2 billion as of Dec. 31, 2010.  Deposits, on the other hand, amounted to P98.5 billion from P36.7 billion in 2010.