The Manila Times

PNB net income grows in 1st quarter

MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO

PHILIPPINE National Bank (PNB) said its net earnings grew in the first three months of the year, owing to higher net interest income and net reversals of credit provisions.

In a statement released on Friday, the lender said it posted P2.81 billion in net income in the first quarter of 2022, 56 percent bigger compared to P1.79 billion in the same period last year.

Due to better loan yields and lower interest expenses on deposits, PNB reported a net interest revenue of P8.5 billion, up 3 percent from the same period last year.

The bank said gross loans were P583.9 billion at the end of March 2022, down 7 percent from the previous year, as it continued to focus on borrowers in financially strong industries. On the other hand, due to the growth of current and savings accounts, its deposit liabilities increased to P869.9 billion, picking up 3 percent from the end of March 2021.

PNB reported net reversals of credit provisions of P394 million in the first quarter of 2022 to reflect the recovery in the credit condition of its borrowers who are progressively recovering from the pandemic.

“This was a turnaround from the prior year when the bank was still continuing to build its loan loss reserves to cover the bank’s non-performing accounts,” it added.

Since the prior year witnessed the restart of various capital market operations as the economy reopened beginning in the first half of 2021, the lender said its net service fees and commission income fell by 3 percent, primarily due to lower underwriting fees.

The increase in benchmark interest rates during the period also reduced its trading and foreign exchange gains by 82 percent year on year.

PNB said its operational expenses saw an uptick of 6 percent year on year due to increasing amortization charges for its leased properties where it is currently holding its operations. In 2021, these properties were the subject of a property-forshare transfer.

“Total consolidated resources of the bank as of endMarch 2022 amounted to P1.1 trillion, slightly higher than the level as of the same quarter-end last year, primarily driven by higher investment securities and other liquid placements despite the reduction in loans,” it added.

Similarly, the lender said that its total equity increased by 5 percent year over year to P161.9 billion. At 14.7 percent and 14.0 percent, respectively, the total capital adequacy ratio and common equity Tier 1 ratio remained substantially above the regulatory minimum of 10.0 percent.

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2022-05-14T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-14T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://digitaledition.manilatimes.net/article/281844352231685

The Manila Times