China Banking Corp., one of the Philippines biggest commercial banks, chalked up 3.21 billion pesos (68.5 million U.S. dollars) in net profit for the first nine months of the year, or up 40.7 percent on year, on back of stronger revenues.
In its disclosure issued to the Philippine Stock Exchange Friday, China Bank officials reported that the bank's revenues increased 22.8 percent on year to 13.02 billion pesos (27 million U.S. dollars).
"With our continued focus on improving service, strengthening our balance sheet, and effective management of risks, we were able to sustain our growth momentum for this year. Our double digit growth is underpinned by our commitment to consistently deliver strong shareholder value," China Bank executive vice president and chief operating officer Ricardo Chua said in a press statement.
To strengthen its balance sheet, provisions for probable credit losses were more than doubled to 493 million pesos (10.4 million U.S. dollars), bringing China Bank's loan loss coverage ratio to 112.21 percent from 82.55 percent last year.
The bank also continued to generate more deposits from the growth in its distribution network. Total deposits reached 174.04 billion pesos (3.6 billion U.S. dollars), with the ratio of low-cost current account and savings accounts (CASA) to total peso deposits further improving to 42 percent.
The funds generated were turned into additional earning assets. Average loans were up 12 percent from the same period last year due to higher loans volume to corporate and consumer sectors, although September year-on-year loans growth has slowed to 3 percent.
Total capital funds stood at 29.27 billion pesos (615 million U.S. dollars), translating to a capital adequacy ratio to risk assets of 13.38 percent.
China Bank is the country's ninth biggest bank in terms of assets and controlled by Filipino-Chinese businessman Henry Sy.
