PSBank’s first half profit up 13% to $21.62mn

The thrift bank achieves double-digit surge amidst interest rate competition on mortgage loans.

The Metrobank group’s thrift bank arm Philippine Savings Bank grew its first semester net profit by 13 percent to P916 million ($21.62 million) from a year ago as higher earnings from core lending activities made up for the slack in trading gains.

For the second quarter alone, PSBank boosted its net profit by 91 percent to P332 million ($7.83 million) compared to the level in 2010.

In a report on Tuesday, PSBank reported that trading gains went down by P491 million ($11.59 million) due to prevailing high interest rate environment but this was offset by the rise in its core net interest income amounting to P407 million ($9.6 million).

Total net interest income reached P2.8 billion ($66.08 million), up by 17 percent from a year ago, with interest income from loans growing by 12 percent to P3.2 billion ($75.52 million) and interest income from investments increasing by 59 percent to P1 billion ($23.6 million).

The rise in core income was attributed to the bank’s continuing expansion in its loan and investment portfolio. Gross loans posted a steady double digit increase of 12 percent year-on-year to P58.7 billion ($1.38 billion) with auto loans rising by 22 percent, mortgage loans by 8 percent and personal loans also by 8 percent.

“PSBank’s double-digit loan growth is in spite of the challenges on the supply side of certain Japanese automobile brands and the interest rate competition on mortgage loans. We anticipate further buoyancy in consumer loan demand in the second half of the year,” PSBank president Pascual M. Garcia III said in a press statement.

View the full story in The Philippine Daily Inquirer.