Union Bank of the Philippines (UBP) reported that its net income was almost flat at P12.7 billion last year from P12.6 billion in 2021 despite record net revenues in 2022.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the bank said its net revenues reached a record high of P52.2 billion, 16 percent higher year-on-year (YoY).
Revenues mainly came from net interest income and fee-based income, which compensated for the absence of trading gains. Net interest income increased by 31 percent to P38.9 billion on account of higher margins and volume.
Net interest margins expanded by 27 basis points to 4.9 percent driven by the higher proportion of consumer loans to total loans and the robust growth of low-cost CASA deposits (up 29 percent YoY).
Fees and other income doubled to P13.4 billion largely due to the consolidation of the acquired Citi consumer business, as well as growing digital customer transactions.
Total assets were at P1.1 trillion, 31 percent higher than prior year. Customer loans jumped by 42 percent to P479.2 billion, resulting from the combined growth in UBP and CitySavings consumer loans, as well as the acquired Citi consumer business.
Total deposits went up by 25 percent to P711.3 billion due to the overall expansion of the retail customer base and the strong take up of cash management products from large corporates.
“In 2022, we witnessed a momentous shift in our business model. We have a solid balance sheet that continues to provide us above industry net interest margins,” said UBP Executive Vice President and Chief Finance Officer Manuel R. Lozano.
He noted that, “The shift in digital also allowed us to grow our fees coming from mobile fund transfers and payments. We were able to book the same bottomline as the previous year, but with less reliance on trading.”
“At the start of 2022, we made a commitment to execute on key strategic imperatives. First, the seamless integration of the acquired Citi consumer business, which includes customers and employees,” said UBP President and CEO Edwin R. Bautista.
He added that, “Second, the commercial launch of UnionDigital as one of the six digital banks licensed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.”