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ASIDE from the landmark P36.9-billion capital infusion by Japanese Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU), Security Bank has another ace up its sleeve.

We heard that the fourth quarter of 2015 was exceptionally good for Security Bank, allowing the bank to post the highest annual net profit in its history for 2015. The bank’s highest net profit so far was achieved in 2012 when it racked up P7.5 billion.

At the sidelines of the BTMU dealsigning yesterday, Security Bank president Alfonso Salcedo Jr. confirmed to Biz Buzz that for the fullyear 2015, the bank was on track to beat the P7.5-billion record net profit seen two years ago. “We have a good shot,” he said.

Note that in the first nine months, the bank’s net profit even dipped by 4.7 percent year-on-year to P6.1 billion in the absence of substantial trading gains that buoyed earnings in the comparative year. This means the fourth quarter made up for the earlier slack, notwithstanding all the financial market volatility.

Asked what exactly happened in the fourth quarter, Salcedo said core revenues were very good. “Also, our retail business is kicking in. We can feel it. We can see it in our margins that it’s kicking in,” he said.

For 2016, Salcedo said the bank was expecting a better performance—even when its full-year budgets have not taken into account the bigger war chest coming from the BTMU deal. For the meantime, Security Bank’s return on equity is expected to drop (it was at 16 percent in the first nine months of

2015) because the equity will expand substantially with BTMU’s capital infusion. “So hopefully, we’d like to use it within the next two years,” he said.

As stated, the ambition is to be among the country’s top four or five banks in the next three to four years despite being an “independent” player or not being part of any of the country’s large local conglomerates.