China Bank earnings fall 2% in 9 months

MANILA, Philippines — Earnings of listed China Banking Corp. slipped 2.1 percent to P5.56 billion in the first nine months from P5.68 billion in the same period last year due to lower trading gains and non-recurring income.

The country’s sixth largest bank in terms of assets booked an eight percent increase in consolidated operating income to P20.72 billion from January to September, driven by sustained growth of its core businesses.

Excluding trading and one-off gains, the bank said its operating income grew by 16 percent.

China Bank’s loan book jumped by 16 percent to P507.83 billion in the first nine months from P434.81 billion in the same period last year on the back of robust consumer lending, while its deposit base surged 20 percent to P691.66 billion from P578.04 billion.

Amid the lending growth, asset quality improved as the bank’s non-performing loans (NPL) in absolute amounts continued to drop along with the NPL ratio to 1.23 percent from 1.76 percent.

Meanwhile, its loan loss coverage soared to 121 percent from 91 percent.

Interest earnings from loans and investment securities led to a 20 percent increase in net interest income to P17.08 billion, bringing the year-to-date net interest margin to 3.17 percent.

On the other hand, the Sy-led bank said its non-interest revenue plunged 26 percent to P3.64 billion from P4.9 billion due to lower trading gains as well as absence of non-recurring income from asset sales.

It added the bank’s operating expenses stood at P13.11 billion from January to September.

China Bank’s asset base expanded 18 percent to P816.20 billion from P692.74 billion, driven by loan expansion.

Likewise, the bank remained well capitalized, with a total capital adequacy ratio of 13.02 percent and common equity Tier 1 ratio of 12.29 percent.