PNB breaks trillion mark in assets, 1Q19 profits up 30%

The Philippine National Bank (PSE: PNB) achieved a milestone with total resources reaching P1.03 trillion at the end of March 2019, up P176 billion or 21% compared to year-ago.

The bank reported consolidated net income of P1.9 billion for the first three months of 2019, 30% higher compared to P1.5 billion reported in the same quarter in 2018, at the back of robust growth in total operating income.

The bank continues to ride on the growth trajectory of the Philippine economy, PNB President and CEO Wick Veloso said. “We see a lot of activity in many of our branches nationwide. Robust corporate and consumer business is expanding and asset quality remains to be strong,” he said.

“The growth of the economy continues to be solid and PNB is well positioned in key growth areas around the archipelago to capture more opportunities,” Veloso said, as he points to business activities around ongoing infrastructure driving the economy.

“We are committed to doing things in a more efficient way as we push safe aggressive growth,”he said.

The growth in operating income was driven primarily by improvements in net interest income and trading and foreign exchange gains. The Bank’s net interest income increased to P7.1 billion from P6.4 billion reported in the same period last year on the back of expansion in loans to customers and trading and investment securities. Loan balances grew to P588.9 billion as at March 2019, 17% better than March 2018 while trading and investment securities increased by 62% year-on-year to P188.4 billion. Deposit liabilities increased 13% year-on-year to P744.8 billion.

Trading and foreign exchange gains reached significantly higher amounts for the quarter, at P856 million from P45 million a year ago. Net service fees and commission income was up by 14% year-on-year to P967 million, due to improvements in credit-card-related and deposit-related fees. Operating expenses, excluding provisions for impairment and credit losses, grew 13% over the same period last year, as robust revenue growth translated to higher business taxes and other business related expenses.

As of end of March 2019, PNB’s total equity increased by P12 billion, to P133 billion, from last year’s levels. Common Equity Tier 1 Ratio was 13.2% and Capital Adequacy Ratio stood at 14.0%.

PNB recently bagged two awards from the Philippine Dealing System (PDS) Group for 2018. The Bank was recognized as Top Fixed-Income Brokering Participant, having garnered the highest volume turnover of securities transacted by face amount. PNB was also among the Top Five Fixed-Income Cash Settlement Banks.

Earlier this year, The Asset Triple A County Awards 2018 recognized the Bank with three distinctions. Lenders PNB and PNB Savings Bank received the Best Syndicated Loan award for the Bloomberry Resorts and Hotels’ Php73.5-billion syndicated term loan facility. PNB and investment arm, PNB Capital and Investment Corporation, garnered an award for Best Acquisition Financing as lender and lead arranger, respectively, of the Clark Global Corporation’s USD690-million acquisition project. Finally, PNB Capital was cited as one of the lead underwriters and bookrunners for Ayala Land’s Php10-billion retail bonds, which won as Most Innovative Deal.