Robinsons Bank profit rises 20% to P942 million in 9 months

MANILA, Philippines — Earnings of Gokongwei-led Robinsons Bank Corp. increased by 19.8 percent to P941.8 million from January to September   compared to P786.22 million in the same period last year after a strong performance in the third quarter.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx), Robinsons Bank said its net interest income grew by 22 percent to P5 billion from P4.1 billion on stronger interest earnings on account of improvement in loan-related activities as well as lower interest expense due to lower deposit rates and decline in volume.

The bank’s net service fees and commission income more than doubled to P296.66 million from P143.69 million.

The total operating income of the Gokongwei-led bank went up by 12.2 percent to P5.71 billion during the nine-month period from a year-ago level of P5.09 billion as foreign exchange gains amounted to P28.52 million or almost eight times the P3.64 million recorded in the same period last year.

The bank’s trading and securities gains plunged by 55.7 percent to P312.75 million from P705.49 million.

During the nine-month period, the bank’s total operating expenses  went up by 15.6 percent to P4.75 billion from P4.11 billion.

The bank said its provision for credit and impairment losses rose by 26.4 percent to P973.73 million from January to September compared to P770.08 million in the same period last year.

For the third quarter alone, the profit of Robinsons Bank reached P707.41 million or almost 4.5 times the P157.89 million booked in the same quarter last year.

The bank’s operating income amounted to P3.85 billion or almost 2.6 times the year-ago level of P1.5 billion as net service fee and commission almost quadrupled to P218.27 million form P55.3 million.

Net interest income during the three-month period jumped by 143 percent to P3.39 billion from P1.39 billion.

From April to June, the bank’s operating expenses more than doubled to P3.1 billion from P1.28 billion as provision for potential loan losses reached P548.14 million or 3.4 times last year’s P160.27 million.

Robinsons Bank is 60 percent and 40 percent owned by JG Summit Capital Services Corp. and Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc., respectively. Its asset base inched up by six percent to P160.3 billion in end -June from P151.15 billion in end- December.