MANILA, Philippines - China Banking Corp. said its 2011 net earnings of P5.009 billion stood at practically the same amount as the previous year due to “a flat net interest income” that offset the modest volume growth in lending and deposit taking.”
Thus its return on equity fell from 16.69 percent to 13.72 percent, and return on assets fell to 2.04 percent this year from 2.15 percent in 2010.
In a press statement, China Bank said that gross loan portfolio grew by 32 percent to P150 billion.
The bank likewise heightened its loan portfolio quality as its non-performing loans (NPL) ratio improved to 2.93 percent from 3.89 percent in 2010.
“With sufficient provisions for probable losses already in the books, China Bank brought down its loan-loss provisions by 68.7 percent to P155.1 million. Even with this reduction, its loan loss coverage ratio of 143.9 percent remains among the highest in the industry,” it added.
Low cost deposits as well as the checking and savings account (CASA) expanded by 13.2 percent. Higher contribution from trust fees, sale of acquired assets and bancassurance business compensated for the lower trading and foreign currency exchange gains.
Total resources grew to P262.2 billion while total deposits amounted to P216.13 billion. Capital funds reached P39.29 billion.
Risk-weighed capital adequacy ratio (CAR) stood at 17.79 percent, and Tier 1 CAR at 16.9 percent.
So far, China Bank expanded its branch network to 293 from 141 in 2006. This year alone, it opened 24 branches, or 15 for the main commercial bank and another nine for subsidiary ChinaBank Savings.
Total automated teller machine (ATM) network stood at 475.
In the past five years, it had been allocating P1 billion per year for its expansion program. Cost efficiency ratio stood at 55.19 percent.