RCBC earnings soar 84% from January to June

MANILA, Philippines — The earnings of Yuchengco-led Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) soared by 84.4 percent to P6.14 billion in the first half from P3.33 billion in the same period last year, while its asset base crossed the P1-trillion mark on the back of solid expansion in customer loans and treasury assets.

RCBC president and CEO Eugene Acevedo said the robust core business performance propelled the bank’s consolidated net income to breach P6 billion in the first semester.

“We are excited to unlock more business opportunities and make positive disruptions to accelerate our growth and create more value for our customers,” Acevedo said.

The bank’s return on equity improved to 9.5 percent from 6.6 percent, while its return on assets also improved to 1.1 percent from 0.8 percent.

RCBC’s total gross income grew by 24 percent to P21.23 billion from P16.9 billion, driven by the 18 percent hike in net interest income, while earning assets of P850 billion continued to expand, buoyed by the 59 percent jump in its investment securities portfolio.

With the help of data science and analytics, RCBC cautiously built up loans primarily from safe-haven sectors in the corporate, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), mortgage and credit card segments.

Cross-selling initiatives boosted the bank’s credit card portfolio by 27 percent, bringing total cards in force to nearly 925,000.

Contributing to the uplift in gross income, the 48 percent increase in non-interest income was underpinned by the strong growth in trust, retail, and digital transactions.

DiskarTech saw a 199 percent surge in total transaction value, while RCBC Digital booked a 53 percent jump.

Likewise, the sustained momentum in the bancassurance business also prompted the early renewal of the partnership between RCBC and Sun Life Grepa Financial Inc.

Operating expenses increased by 10 percent due to higher business tax and volume-related expenses.

It continued to push for greater efficiencies through optimization of its traditional and digital delivery channels, resulting in a better cost-to-income ratio of 58 percent, while impairment provisions were lower by 20 percent as non-performing loan (NPL) ratio eased to 2.73 percent from 3.25 percent on the back of improved credit underwriting and management.

Supporting the bank’s asset build-up strategy is the 24 percent jump in total deposits to P739.51 billion, led by the 18 percent expansion in low-cost current account and savings account (CASA) deposits.

The asset base of the Yuchengco-led bank went up by 19 percent to P1 trillion in end-June from P845.8 billion in end-June last year, while its capital base also increased to P112.05 billion, translating in a capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of 15.49 percent and common equity tier-1 (CET1) ratio of 12.38 percent, both well above regulatory requirements.

As of end-June, RCBC had a total consolidated network of 446 branches, 1,280 automated teller machines, and 1,345 ATM Go terminals strategically located nationwide.