UnionBank of the Philippines (UBP), the financial unit of Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., said Monday its second-quarter net income surged by more than 50 percent to P3.1 billion from P2 billion in the same period last year.
UBP chief finance officer Manuel Lozano, in a disclosure to the stock exchange, attributed the bank’s robust second-quarter performance to higher revenues and decline in expenses.
“Our focus on higher margin consumer segment and continued expansion of our customer base will allow us to sustain this growth momentum in the years to come,” said Lozano.
Net income reached P5.1 billion in the first half, down over 20 percent year-on-year while top-line revenues rose 8.3 percent to P37.3 billion.
UnionBank said the growth in net revenues was driven by its expanding consumer business, higher net interest margin and growing transaction fees.
Net interest income grew 14.8 percent to P27.5 billion, led by a 55-basis-point improvement in net interest margin.
Net interest margin is among the highest in the banking industry at 5.7 percent, coming from the higher proportion of consumer loans to total loans.
Consumer loans now account for 59 percent of its total loan portfolio, or nearly 3 times higher than the industry average.
Operating expenses improved by 2.4 percent year-on-year to P21.6 billion.
Following the successful migration of the acquired Citi consumer business into UBP’s system in March, the bank’s IT expenses have declined by close to P1 billion quarter-on-quarter.
The decline in IT expenses was partly offset by inherent costs related to customer acquisition and revenue growth. New-to-bank customers more than doubled from last year’s monthly average.
UBP has over 15 million total customers.
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