Bank of Commerce income more than doubles

MANILA, Philippines — San Miguel-led Bank of Commerce’s net income more than doubled to P712.9 million in the first quarter from P360.59 million in the same period last year amid the expansion of its loan book, higher margins and robust fee earnings.

The earnings from January to March this year was also higher than its pre-pandemic net income in 2019.

“This remarkable accomplishment was on the back of expansion in its loan portfolio, higher margin and growing fee income,” Bank of Commerce said in a statement.

Bank of Commerce also booked a 31 percent jump in gross revenue to P2.27 billion from January to March this year.

“The significant growth in total revenues combined with prudent operating spending and seasonality in expenses resulted to a significant improvement in its cost to income ratio at 59.99 percent,” the bank said in a statement.

This was driven by the 32 percent surge in net interest income to P1.93 billion as net interest margin improved to 4.22 percent in end-March.

Likewise, total operating income went up by 30.6 percent to P2.27 billion due to the sustained growth of service charges, fees, and commissions and foreign exchange gains.

Other income, which accounted for 15 percent of the bank’s gross revenue, rose by 25 percent to P340.98 million, propelled by the 41 percent jump in service charges, fees and commissions on account of solid growth in trust, credit card, trade finance and investment banking fees.

Foreign exchange gains rose by three percent to P43.96 million from P42.59 million.

The bank’s total loans and receivables stood at P106.48 billion, mainly attributable to increase in corporate lending. Loan-to-deposit ratio improved to 73 percent as loan levels grew.

Net NPL ratio further improved at 0.58 percent from 0.60 percent in end December.

The bank’s total assets stood at P206.42 billion, translating to a return on assets (ROA) of 1.35 percent.

Its capital funds inched up by three percent to P28.86 billion from P28.03 billion on account of higher retained earnings for the period while its capital adequacy ratio remained strong at 19.51 percent from 17.97 percent last year, well above the minimum regulatory requirement of 10 percent.

Bank of Commerce has a network of 140 branches and aims to deploy more ATMs in addition to the 260 count at end-March.