The net income of Asia United Bank (AUB) jumped 56 percent to P6.3 billion, boosted mainly by increased loan volume, higher margins, and improvement on loan loss provisions.
“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 A. Gomez said.
Based on its latest unaudited financial statements, the bank ended the fourth quarter with a net income of P1.7 billion, 54 percent higher than a year ago.
Its FY 2022 net income results pushed its return on equity up to 16.2 percent versus 11.1 percent in 2021 and 14.2 percent in pre-pandemic 2019, while return on assets stood at 1.9 percent in 2022 from 1.3 percent in 2021.
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.
This translated to a net interest margin of 4.2 percent from 3.7 percent.
AUB continues to be one of the smartest spenders in the industry with operational expenses inching up by two percent, resulting in a cost-to-income ratio of 37.5 percent, lower than 42.4 percent, year-on-year.
This resulted from the bank’s 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 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.
Mirroring the improved business climate in the country, AUB reduced its loan loss provisions by 33 percent to P1.6 billion versus year-ago while its non-performing loans (NPL) ratio shrank to one percent and NPL coverage ratio strengthened to 115.1 percent.
Supporting the higher loan volume, its deposits grew by 10 percent to P288.8 billion, year-on-year, while CASA deposits accounted for 75 percent of its total deposits while its loan-to-deposit ratio stood at a healthy 67.5 percent.
AUB remains as one of the top 20 banks in the Philippines with total assets of P340.2 billion in 2022, reflecting a seven percent year-on-year increase.
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.
