Metrobank income up 6% to P5.6 B

Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company (Metrobank) recorded a six percent increase in earnings in the first quarter as the financial institution sustained the momentum in its core business.

Metrobank president Fabian Dee said the first quarter results reflected the bank’s capability to consistently deliver quality earnings from core businesses, translating to a net income of P5.6 billion from P5.25 billion in the same quarter last year.

“We are moving as planned in terms of diversifying revenues through sustained growth in net interest income and high- er contributions from fee-related initiatives,” Dee said.

He added the country’s second largest lender would continue to invest in human resources and technology.

“Over time, our efforts were focused on building a healthy asset and funding mix to support margin expansion, while our continued investment in people and technology has started to bear fruit helping us gain more operating leverage” he said.

Metrobank sustained the momentum in its core business with industry leading growth in loans and low-cost deposit generation resulting in better margins.

Fee income had a significant year-on-year improvement, while operating expense growth was kept at a very manageable level.

For the review period, its revenue hit P19.9 billion while operating expenses reached P11.1 billion.

As of quarter-end, Metrobank’s total deposits grew 16 percent year-on-year to reach P1.4 trillion.

The sustained build-up of low cost deposits fueled the acceleration in the loan portfolio, which in turn climbed 26 percent to P1.1 trillion.

The commercial segment led the growth, up 30 percent year-on-year with strong contributions from the top corporate and middle market accounts while the consumer business maintained its solid volume growth of 17 percent.

The robust loan growth and relatively low funding cost contributed to the 14 percent increase in net interest income to P14.5 billion while its noninterest income of P5.4 billion was boosted by the 18 percent growth in service fees and commissions and income from trust operations.

Metrobank ended the first quarter with consolidated assets of P1.9 trillion, and equity at P200.5 billion. Basel III total capital adequacy ratio (CAR) was well above the regulatory limit at 15.6 percent with Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio at 12.8 percent.