RCBC income rises to P3.17 B in H1

MANILA, Philippines -  Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) posted an unaudited consolidated net income of P3.17 billion in the first half of 2013, up 5.18 percent from P3.01 billion in the same period last year.

This translates to an annualized return on equity of 14.35 percent and annualized return on assets of 1.73 percent.

Net interest income reached P6.18 billion, higher by 12.5 percent from P5.50 billion last year.

Despite the intense pricing competition, low interest rate environment, and prudent credit origination during the first semester of 2013, NIM improved remarkably to 4.11 percent as against 3.8 percent for the same period last year and continues to remain one of the highest in the industry.

Total fee-based and miscellaneous income increased 24 percent to P2.83 billion driven by growth in ATM business, underwriting, remittance, credit card fees, asset disposal, and bancassurance.

The increased bancassurance activities from the bank’s strategic partnership with Sunlife-Grepa resulted in bancassurance fees growing 568 percent to P119.3 million from bancassurance sales of P5.8 billion, 368 percent higher year-on-year.

Trading and foreign exchange gains were lower by nine percent versus June 2012 levels.

Loans reached P199.24 billion, propelled by vibrant lending to the consumer and SME segments which grew 20.1 percent and 15.2 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, microfinance lending continued its uptrend with loan disbursements growing 37 percent and outstanding loan portfolio increasing 79 percent.

Non-performing loans (NPL) ratio was at 0.51 percent as of end-June 2013 while bank reserve cover also stood strong at 111 percent. In February 2013, it sold non-performing assets (NPAs) amounting to P4.8 billion to Philippine Asset Growth One Inc., an SPC formed by the International Finance Corp., OSK Group - Malaysia and Altus Transaction Services, Inc.

Total deposits reached P247.08 billion as of end-June 2013, with low-cost CASA deposits increasing by 17 percent.  Overall funding mix improved as the CASA-to-total deposits ratio stood at 64 percent as of end-June 2013 versus 56 percent as of end-June 2012.

Growth in operating expenses was controlled at 8.7 percent to P6.93 billion for the first half of the year mainly in support of the on-going strategy to broaden customer reach and enhance banking convenience.

RCBC opened six branches and installed 97 ATMs during the first half. This brought the consolidated network to 424 branches and 1,107 ATMs, which resulted to a 2.61 branch-to-ATM ratio, one of the highest in the industry. 

Cost-to-income ratio for the period was at 59.05 percent as against 59.19 percent for the same period last year.

Total consolidated resources grew by 7.6 percent to P374.32 billion. Capital funds reached P45.93 billion, up by P6.5 billion or 16.64 percent from P39.29 billion last year.

The bank boosted its capital in anticipation of Basel 3 requirements through the placement of $100 million new common shares in March 2013 and an additional $100 million capital infusion from the International Finance Corp.in April 2013.

Capital adequacy ratio (Basel 2) stood at 18.09 percent while Basel 2 Tier 1 ratio is at 16.19 percent.

Customer base increased to 5.04 million as of June 2013 from 3.7 million in 2012.