ASIA United Bank Corp. reported a net income of P6.3 billion in 2022, a 56-percent increase year on year, mainly driven by increased loan volume, higher margins and improvement on loan loss provisions.

The bank said Tuesday that it ended the fourth quarter with a net income of P1.7 billion, 54 percent higher than a year ago.

Its 2022 net earnings pushed return on equity to 16.2 percent from 11.1 percent in 2021 and 14.2 percent in pre-pandemic 2019. Return on assets stood at 1.9 percent in 2022, also higher than the previous year’s 1.3 percent.

“We believe our agility in achieving a balance among growth, pricing, expense and risk management will continue to enable us to surmount the challenges of higher inflation and interest rate volatility that are seen to persist in 2023,” AUB President Manuel Gomez said in a statement.

Higher interest income from loans and investment securities led to an 18-percent year-on-year increase in its net interest income to P12.9 billion while keeping interest expense at bay.

AUB’s operational expenses inched up by 2 percent, resulting in a cost-to-income ratio of 37.5 percent, lower than 42.4 percent year on year due to continuous automation enhancements and process optimization to deliver quality services to customers efficiently at less cost.

With the economy coming back on track and asset quality improving, AUB saw its loan portfolio grow by 12 percent to P195.0 billion from the 2021 level.

“The heftier loan volume mostly came from the bank’s corporate clients which started restocking their inventories and resuming business activities due to the economy’s reopening,” it said.

Mirroring the improved business climate in the country, AUB reduced its loan loss provisions by 33 percent to P1.6 billion from a year-ago level while its non-performing loans (NPL) ratio shrank to 1.0 percent and NPL coverage ratio strengthened to 115.1 percent.

Deposits grew by 10 percent to P288.8 billion year on year. CASA (current account saving account) deposits accounted for 75 percent of its total deposits while its loanto-deposit ratio stood at a healthy 67.5 percent.

Total equity stood at P39.9 billion, with a common equity tier 1 ratio of 13.7 percent and a capital adequacy ratio of 14.3 percent, both well above the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas regulatory requirements.

Book value per share rose by 5 percent year on year to P82.30 in 2022.

AUB’s shares last traded on Monday when it closed at P43.60 apiece.