Chinabank’s first half net income up 234%

China Banking Corp. (Chinabank), one of the top 15 largest banks in the country, reported a 234-percent surge in net income to P1.6 billion for the first half this year from P479 million a year ago, driven by improved operational productivity.

In a quarterly report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Chinabank said its impressive performance was due to prudent funds allocation, efficient liquidity management, and its conscious efforts to minimize and contain costs while maintaining productivity.

Chinabank registered a net interest income of P1.5 billion for the first six months of the year, 13 percent higher than the same period last year. Similarly, fee-based income grew by 164.37 percent to P2.3 billion. On the other hand, the bank’s cost-to-income ratio of 38.24 percent.

While maintaining its non-performing loans ratio below industry average, the bank’s improved income allowed it to accelerate loan loss provisioning by P650 million during the period under review, more than double the P295 million for the same period last year.

Total loan loss reserves reached P3.7 billion for an NPL coverage ratio of 61.7 percent which compares favorably with the industry average of 47.4 percent.

As of end-June this year, Chinabank’s total resources stood at P88.9 billion, a 13.25- percent growth from the previous level of P78.5 billion. Total deposits, on the other hand, amounted to P65 billion.

Chinabank said its low-cost deposit base including ChinaCheck Plus Deposits plus continued to perform well, reaching P1 billion during the first half.

It is also one of the best capitalized banks in the industry with total capital funds of P14.4 billion and a capital adequacy ratio of 27.92 percent.

During the first semester, China strengthened its acquired assets unit to address escalating foreclosed assets and augment fee-based income from this business.

Chinabank’s credit rating was recently affirmed by credit rating agencies Capital Intelligence and FitchRatings as domestically sound and stable. In the meantime, Chinabank is focusing on expanding its bills payment and other alternative banking channels which would take the bank one step closer to full multi-channel delivery to its customers.

ChinaBank has 138 full-service branches nationwide and 158 ATMs, with many off-branch ATMs located in strategic sites such as shopping malls. It will be celebrating its 82nd anniversary on Aug. 16.