Security Bank seen to surpass revenue target for 2004

Security Bank Corp. (SBC) president and chief executive officer Alberto S. Villarosa said that Security Bank can surpass its 2004 net revenue growth target of 20 percent after posting a net income of P278 million for the first four months of the year.

Villarosa said that the figure is 20 percent higher than the P223 million registered in the same period last year, and that the bank has also surpassed its 2004 income target that improved its annualized return on equity to 8.1 percent from the 6.4 percent posted in 2003.

"SBC’s strong income performance could be attributed to the continued growth of the bank’s consumer, corporate and investment banking businesses, gains in operational efficiency, and improving risk profile," he said.

The bank’s efforts to generate more business and better spreads, as well as collections on non-performing loans (NPL), increased the bank’s interest differential income for the first four months of the year by 49 percent compared to the same period last year.

SBC has continued setting aside provisions for covering its non-performing assets. Provisions for the first four months of the year amounted to P316 million exceeding the P289 million in provisions set aside for the same period in 2003. The bank’s NPL cover remains at a strong 59 percent, translating to a NPL ratio of 8.4 percent, which is one of the lowest in the industry.

SB Cards Corp., the bank’s credit card subsidiary, pursued aggressive marketing programs resulting in a 17-percent growth from year-end levels in the cardmember base for the Diners Club International card and the Security Mastercard. SB Equities, the bank’s stockbrokerage house, is now ranked 8th among brokerage firms in terms of volume traded, and second among the bank-owned units last year.

"We want to become a bank of value before being a bank of size. We want to grow more in terms of profitability rather than size. To achieve this, SBC will push its consumer banking business aggressively and pursue strategic alliances to better serve a broader spectrum of customers," Villarosa said during the bank’s recently held annual stockholders’ meeting.

The bank’s stockholders re-elected the following as members of the board of directors: Frederick Y. Dy, chairman; Paul Y. Ung, vice chairman, and Philip T. Ang, Efren P. Aranzamendez, Anastasia Y. Dy, Jose R. Facundo, James JK Hung, Jose Perpetuo M. Lotilla, Eduardo I. Plana, Rafael F. Simpao Jr. and Alberto S. Villarosa as members.

The bank has earlier put in place a five-point growth strategy embodied in a three-year plan that is aimed at building up its consumer banking business and institutionalizing its product development efforts.