EastWest expect to hit income guidance

GOTIANUN-LED EastWest Bank (EW) said it is on track to meet its income guidance for the year after the bank posted a 60 percent rise in its net income for the first nine months.

“We are on track to end 2017 with a net income of P4.8 billion, or 41 percent higher versus the P3.4 billion booked in 2016,” EastWest Chief Executive Officer Tony Moncupa Jr. said in a disclosure to Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday.

For the nine months to September, EastWest said net income rose to P3.75 billion from the P2.32 billion recorded in the same period in 2016.

“We are happy to note that our higher income is mainly due to improving productivity and lower loan loss provisions. These two items more than offset the much lower trading revenues and the substantial increase in taxes even as our NPL [non-performing loan] loan loss coverage significantly improved,” EastWest President Bobby Reyes said.

The bank maintained its industry-leading net interest margin (NIM) of 7.8 percent.

Its recurring earnings grew 24 percent to P18 billion as net interest income and fee-based income, excluding trading gains, rose 22 percent and 30 percent, respectively.

Total non-interest income grew 5 percent year-onyear, tempered by the 70 percent dip in profits from securities trading. Net revenues reached P18.4 billion, 17 percent higher year-on-year.

Operating expenses were at P9.9 billion, up by 16 percent.

Total assets grew 17 percent to P314.9 billion driven by the growth in the bank’s loan portfolio. Total loans increased 18 percent to P216.3 billion.

Consumer loans, which grew 29 percent, accounted for 72 percent of total loans. Total deposits rose 19 percent to P257.1 billion. Low cost deposits grew 23 percent.

“Our third quarter results prove that we are on the right track. EastWest is a true retail bank whose strength lies in its core operations. As we had projected, we are enjoying the early fruits of our store network expansion which enabled us to generate more deposits, which in turn allowed us to fund more loans and enhance our profitability,” Reyes added.

The bank also reported a return on equity of 13.8 percent and a return on assets of 1.7 percent at the end of the period.

EastWest Bank has 446 stores nationwide.