Philippine Savings Bank’s (PSBank) reported that its net income fell to P1.11 billion last year from the P3.03 billion earned in 2019 partly due to additional loan loss provisions.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the bank said its operating income surged 31 percent before provisions to P7.45 billion last year.
This enabled the bank to set aside additional loan loss provisions to three times over to P6.40 billion in view of the ongoing pandemic conditions.
“On the back of a strong balance sheet and capitalization, the Bank stayed resilient amidst the challenges of 2020,” PSBank President Jose Vicente L. Alde said.
He added that, “As a matter of strategy, we took a conservative stance on credit provisioning in anticipation of risks associated with the pandemic.”
Alde noted that, “We strengthened our digital platforms and made them reliable as the demand for digital banking services exponentially rose.”
Gross revenues was 13 percent higher at P16.57 billion as net interest income showed improvement by 21 percent to P13.75 billion.
This is due to a significant growth in low cost CASA deposits and the decline in interest of term deposits. CASA deposits grew 16 percent to P67.25 billion from P58.18 billion.
In line with initiatives to improve operating efficiencies, operating expenses were kept in check and increased by only 2 percent.
In 2020, digital enrolments and utilization increased 56 percent and 143 percent, respectively. The Bank waived fees for interbank transfers thru Instapay and PESOnet to further promote digital payments.
By mid-year, PSBank made available the booking of time deposits via Mobile and launched the national standard-compliant QR Code for use in fund transfers/payments.
For the safety and convenience of loan customers, settlement of PSBank loans via Instapay was also made available in the last quarter of the year.
“As the economy slowly opens up in 2021, we shall remain positive and hopeful that our recalibrated business models will deliver and continue to adapt to the new environment. We will continue to pursue our digital transformation roadmap by delivering on what is relevant and simple for the customer,” Alde said.