UnionBank sees strong profit growth
ABOITIZ-LED Union Bank of the Philippines, Inc. (UnionBank) expects its overall growth for 2016 to beat 2015鈥檚 performance with the lender鈥檚 bottom line in the first nine months of last year positioned to be the bank鈥檚 biggest leap, its top executive said.
鈥淎s of the third quarter, we are poised to deliver the highest income that we鈥檝e ever achieved,鈥 Edwin R. Bautista, UnionBank president and chief operating officer, told 大象传媒 in an interview with asked for his overall growth prospects for the bank last year.
The country鈥檚 tenth largest bank in asset terms as of end-June 2016 saw a triple digit growth in its net income in the nine months ended September last year at P8.1 billion, soaring by 122% from the P3.7 billion recorded in the same period of 2015, driven by the lender鈥檚 robust customer acquisition.
Mr. Bautista said 2016 鈥渨ould be a very good year鈥 for the bank in terms of income compared to its performance in 2015. 鈥淭hird quarter pa lang (As of the third quarter) we already exceeded the whole year of 2015, so it can only get better,鈥 Mr. Bautista said.
The listed lender raked in P6 billion in net income at end-2015, slipping by 28.4% from the P8.4 billion it booked in 2014 on the back of more expenses that year amid an industry-wide decline in trading gains, even though its core businesses grew during the period, according to the bank鈥檚 annual report uploaded on its Web site.
Asked how UnionBank鈥檚 fourth-quarter performance was, Mr. Bautista said: 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 announced it, but there鈥檚 no reason why it will be worse than the first three quarters [of 2016.]鈥
Asked for the ratio of the bank鈥檚 client portfolio, Mr. Bautista said that more than half of UnionBank鈥檚 customer revenues is comprised of retail customers while the rest are made up of commercial and corporate. He noted that the bank is 鈥渟trong鈥 in all three segments, but noted that the consumer segment was its 鈥渂iggest source of business from a revenue standpoint鈥 for 2016 as it occupied a large margin last year.
Shares in UnionBank gained 35 centavos or 0.45% to close at P78.35 apiece on Monday. — Janine Marie D. Soliman
