EastWest profit hits P4.6 billion in 2022

MANILA, Philippines — Gotianun-led EastWest Banking Corp. booked a slight increase in net income to P4.6 billion last year from P4.5 billion in 2021 on the back of a double-digit growth in core revenues.

The bank said its net income, excluding one-off items, jumped by 42 percent on the back of improved earning capacity and a 12-percent rise in core revenues to P28.1 billion.

EastWest president Jackie Fernandez said the bank accelerated its loan bookings in the second half across all lending products that improved its earning capacity back to pre-pandemic levels.

“We intend to exceed this in 2023, as we carry on the momentum from last year,” Fernandez said.

EastWest CEO Jerry Ngo said that the full year impact of the bank’s asset build-up last year would be felt in its core income performance this year.

“The growth momentum should improve this further as we exceed pre-pandemic asset levels this year. Though we expect some headwinds, particularly from the higher interest rate environment, the country’s growth prospects remain intact. We believe that EastWest is at the right place and at the right time as we partner with our customers to rebuild and grow together,” Ng said.

Taking advantage of the country’s economic recovery, loans grew by 20 percent, bolstered by credit cards, business loans and key salary loan segments.

On the other hand, its deposit base was steady at P329.2 billion with current account and savings account (CASA) ratio improving to 79 percent last from the previous year’s 75 percent.

The total assets of EastWest rose by 4.1 percent to P421.4 billion from P404.8 billion, with the bank’s balance sheet structure shifting largely towards higher yielding consumer lending assets.

The Gotianun-led bank invested heavily on information technology (IT) systems to help improve its digital services and prime it for faster digital innovations, increasing its operating expenses by three percent to P17 billion from P16.52 billion.

Its capital ratios continue to stand at a healthy 13.8 percent and 13 percent for capital adequacy ratio and common equity tier 1 ratio, respectively, well above the regulatory requirements.