PBB clears P1B in ’13

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Business Bank (PBB), the financial arm of the Yao Group of companies, posted a net income of P1 billion in 2013, up 53 percent from P654 million in 2012.

PBB president & CEO Rolando Avante attributed the company’s strong performance to aggressive expansion program implemented last year.

“With our well-diversified network and expanding regional presence, we are well-placed to connect our clients with opportunities be it in Luzon, Visayas or Mindanao,” he said.

“Our 2013 performance underscores the sound fundamentals of our core banking. We achieved a resilient set of results, strengthened our balance sheet, and maintained a comfortable capital position. We built on the trust and confidence our clients and partners have in us through quality service and an expanding suite of financial products,” he added.

Avante said the initial public offering (IPO) undertaken in  February 2013 fuelled the bank’s growth with total resources growing significantly by 42 percent to P47.16 billion in 2013 from P33.1 billion in 2012.

The fresh capital from the IPO, he said, enabled the bank to further strengthen its foothold in the SME sector and grew its asset base aggressively – focusing on loan growth and use of the funds through the trading business.

Despite another challenging year marked by a low interest rate environment,  he said the bank’s total loan portfolio expanded by 51 percent to P31.6 billion from P20.869 billion in 2012.

As of year-end 2013, 60 percent of its total loan portfolio comes from the small and medium enterprises.

PBB’s total deposits amounted to P37.882 billion from P26.449 billion in 2012, which is a 43-percent increase.

Last year, PBB opened 22 new business units throughout the country to increase banking infrastructure in the restricted and non restricted areas.

As of end-2013, its number of branches stood at 100.