ONB income rises 34% to P421 M

MANILA, Philippines - Mindanao-based One Network Bank (ONB) has recorded a 34-percent increase in net earnings in 2012, or from P315 million in 2011 to P421 million. On an annualized basis, the net income level translates to a 26-percent return on average private equity and a two-percent average asset growth. 

ONB president and chief executive officer Alex V. Buenaventura said that they are looking at a net income growth of over 45-percent to a record P617 million in 2013. 

Part of ONB’s bullish earnings outlook for this year, is the opportunities offered by its aggressive expansion beyond the island of Mindanao. 

The Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) approved the merger of ONB and Iloilo-based Rural Bank of San Enrique Inc. (RBSEI) with ONB as the surviving bank. Thus the ONB absorbed RBSEI’s five regular branches in Iloilo City, Guimaras, Passi, San Enrique and Dingle, including one Business Development Office (OBO) in La Paz, Iloilo City. 

Buenaventura revealed that the OBO would be converted ultimately into a regular branch. 

The MB resolution also granted ONB, as the acquiring entity, incentives of establishing 15 new branches in non-restricted areas over a period of three years. 

Complimenting the incentive package, are five previously approved ONB branches in Jaro, Pototan, Janiuay and Dumangas in Iloilo and Semirara Island in the municipality of Caluya, Antique. 

As such, ONB, which currently operates with 90 branches and MBOs in Mindanao, and one branch in Makati, will beef up its total branch network to 117 by 2016. 

Meanwhile, the bank’s unaudited capital base rose to an all-time high of P2.9 billion, exceeding the P2.4-billion minimum capital required to operate as a commercial bank. 

Total resources amounted to P19.9 billion, some 28 percent higher than the previous year. 

The strong revenue is due to the growth in interest income of 22 percent, and the 11-percent growth in fee based income. 

Loans, which accounted for 90 percent of the bank’s total interest income, reached P1.2 billion, which is an increment of 33 percent from end 2011. Likewise, fee based income surged to P804 million, largely driven by service fees on loans.

As of end December 2012, the bank serviced a number of 96,825 borrowers with an average loan size of P150,000, resulting to an expanded loan portfolio of P14.55 billion, or 41 percent better compared to the P10.3 billion reported a year earlier.

Total deposit base amounted to P14-billion, or a 34-percent climb from the P10.5 billion in 2011. ONB ended 2012 with a pool of 600,248 depositors.