By James A. Loyola
China Banking Corporation (ChinaBank) registered a dip in consolidated net income to P5.56 billion for the first nine months of 2018 from the P5.68 billion earned in the same period last year.
China Banking Corporation logo (Courtesy of chinabank.ph)
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the bank said its consolidated operating income grew 8 percent year-on-year to P20.72 billion, driven by sustained growth of its core businesses.
Excluding trading and one-off gains, operating income was up 16 percent.
Gross customer loans increased 16 percent to P507.83 billion with growth across all segments, and consumer lending growing by 19 percent.
Total deposits rose 20 percent to P691.66 billion, supported by a 29 percent growth in low-cost deposits to P394.98 billion.
Interest earnings from loans and investment securities led to a 20 percent increase in net interest income to P17.08 billion. Year-to-date net interest margin improved to 3.17 percent.
Non-interest revenues dropped 26 percent to P3.64 billion.
Assets grew 18 percent to P816.20 billion, driven by loan expansion. Amid the lending growth, asset quality improved.
The bank’s non-performing loans (NPL) in absolute amounts continued to drop along with the NPL ratio, which fell to 1.23 percent from 1.76 percent. Loan loss coverage rose to 121 percent from 91 percent.
ChinaBank remains well capitalized, with a total capital adequacy ratio of 13.02 percent and common equity Tier 1 ratio of 12.29 percent.