The One Network Bank (ONB) has increased total resources to P7.846 billion as of September 2008, or 31 percent higher than the P5.979 billion in the same period last year.
The level of resources of ONB, in fact, is larger than the lower half of the country’s top 30 thrift banks last year.
Likewise, net income ballooned by 38 percent, from P141 million for the period January to September 2007 to P197 million in the same period this year.
It should have been higher if not for the additional P46 million provisioning for probable losses, bringing the total provisioning to P204 million.
ONB president and chief executive officer Alex V. Buenaventura said that concentration on the domestic economy, continued lending and deposit-taking with the agriculture and agri-business sector, and avoidance to lending to the property sector were among the reasons for its good performance.
Loans expanded by 37 percent to P5.67 billion end September this year from the P4.13 billion last year.
Buenaventura said that salary loans alone reached a portfolio of P2.6 billion.
The second major contributor to the loan portfolio growth is the One Banana Program, where loans to small cavendish banana growers reached P547 million. That is 65 percent better than the P331 million last year.
“These are high-quality loans as reflected in the non-performing loan (NPL) ratio or collection efficiency ratio of four percent as of end September this year, from the six percent last year,” the ONB chief executive added.
Deposits meanwhile grew by 19 percent, from P4.53 billion in the first nine months of 2007 to P5.4 billion in the same period this year.
ONB explained that the 19-percent growth was slightly lower than the previous year, which they account to lower volume of inward remittances from overseas Filipinos. Remittances fell to P11 million as of September this year from the P16 million last year.
Buenaventura said that ONB scaled down its original 2008 net income target of P335 million to P270 million in the face the overall poor domestic and global conditions.
Stockholders’ equity remained positive as it expanded by another 19 percent to P5.4 billion.
Return on private investment slipped slightly to 19 percent while return on assets (ROA) and risk-based capital adequacy ratio (CAR) remained even.
ROA remained unchanged at four percent while CAR at 19 percent.
Liquidity ratio remained at a healthy 16 percent while expense to gross income ratio at 79 percent.
Non-performing asset (NPA) ratio to total loan portfolio stood at three percent while NPL ratio at four percent.
ONB remained the biggest rural bank in Mindanao with a branch network of 70 and an automated teller machine (ATM) network of 75, some of which are satellite or broadband-linked.
ONB is a product of a landmark consolidation between three rural banks, all based in Mindanao. One Network Bank is a three-way marriage between Network Rural Bank (Davao del Sur) Inc., the Rural Bank of Panabo (Davao del Norte) Inc., and the Provident Rural Bank of Cotabato (North Cotabato) Inc. – Ted Torres