EastWest upbeat on growth this year

MANILA, Philippines — East West Banking Corp. remains bullish on its growth trajectory this year, banking on its expanding product segments, improved digital capabilities as well as a potential lending boost from new credit cards and lower interest rates, its top executive said.

“We’re optimistic as always,” EastWest CEO Jerry Ngo told reporters on the sidelines of the Always Panalo Visa Credit Card launch last week.

“Last year, we grew our net income by 25 percent. And then prior to that, we grew by 32 percent,” he said.

The Gotianun-led bank saw its net income jump by 24.6 percent to P7.6 billion in 2024 from P6.1 billion in 2023 on the back of strong consumer loan expansion and robust deposit generation.

While Ngo acknowledged that the bank will eventually face base effects as it scales, he said EastWest is focused on becoming more efficient and transforming operations, which should support continued growth.

“We’re working on becoming more efficient and building up our digital capabilities... and now everything’s starting to come together,” he said.

“Hopefully, we won’t just maintain the same growth trajectory but also improve our efficiency. Our underlying performance is getting better — we’re changing the way we do things,” he added.

Last week, EastWest launched a co-branded credit card with Puregold Price Club Inc. Ngo said that the Puregold card has potential to significantly add to EastWest’s consumer loan growth, even if the impact may start small.

The EastWest Puregold Always Panalo Visa Credit Card provides one rewards point for every P30 spent at Puregold and P100 spent elsewhere. Rewards points are convertible to Puregold P-Wallet credits at a 1:1 ratio.

Cardholders can accumulate up to P3,000 in P-Wallet credits monthly, allowing for more savings with each transaction.

Ngo is also hopeful that interest rates will continue to come down this year after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas slashed policy rates by 25  basis points on April 10.

“Personally, I wish the BSP will cut interest rates,” he said.

“It’s really helpful from a lending perspective. Financing cost creates access to financing. Access to financing leads to consumption. Consumption leads to economic activity,” Ngo said.

He noted that while the US Federal Reserve has tempered expectations on rate cuts, the BSP has done “a really good job” balancing policy.

Established in 1994, EastWest is a Filipino-owned universal bank and a subsidiary of Filinvest Development Corp., one of the country’s leading conglomerates.