RCBC earnings slip 2.8% in 9 months

Earnings of Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. slipped 2.8 percent in the first nine months despite the strong performance in the third quarter.

The country’s 10th largest lender recorded a net income of P3.4 billion from January to September, about P100 million lower than the P3.5 billion registered in the same period last year.

RCBC president and CEO Gil Buenaventura said the results of the last nine months have been encouraging.

RCBC’s net interest Income grew 11 percent to P13.1 billion due primarily to the 17 percent rise in loan portfolio to P338 billion. The bank’s loan book for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) jump 54 percent followed by credit card receivables with 28 percent, the corporate segment with 15 percent, and the consumer segment with13 percent.

Rizal MicroBank, the Microfinance arm of the bank that provides financing requirements for micro and small enterprises, increased its outstanding loan portfolio by 42 percent year-on-year through continuous efforts to enhance its current loan products responsive to the needs of its mandated market segments.

Total gross income reached P18.6 billion with total other operating income reaching P 5.4 billion. Operating expenses were flat year-on-year at P13 billion.

RCBC’s deposit base grew 13 percent P374.6 billion with checking accounts and savings accounts (CASA) rising 10 percent to P219.2 billion.

The increase in CASA deposits and growth in the bank’s total Loan portfolio has helped fuel the responsiveness of our products to the market demand. We are also encouraged by the response to the new corporate branding campaign that has provided the bank a vehicle to be heard by customers above the clutter of today’s evolving digital landscape,” Buenaventura said.