SECURITY Bank Corp. reported its net income fell in the first six months of the year in the absence of “extraordinary” trading gains in 2021, the bank reported.
Security Bank’s net income hit P3.1 billion in the first half of the year, falling by 46 percent from the P5.7 billion net income in the same period in 2020 as gains from both interest and non-interest channels declined during the period.
In particular, net interest income hit P13.6 billion in the first half, down 14 percent from year-ago level. Non-interest income, meanwhile, hit P 4.8 billion, down 52 percent from the same period last year. The bank blamed the lack of “extraordinary securities trading gains” during the period, as this buoyed their income in 2020.
The bank’s service charges, fees and commissions increased 28 percent to P 2.1 billion, with fee income sources increasing from their year-ago levels.
Aside from lower income, the bank’s operating expense was also up 0.9 percent from the same period last year. According to the Security Bank, this was driven by investments in technology and manpower.
The bank also reported that it set aside P 2.4 billion as provisions for credit losses during the period, a significant decrease versus the P11 billion in the first half of 2020.
Security Bank’s gross non-performing loan (NPL) ratio was 3.93 percent while its NPL reserve cover was 103 percent.
Just last month, the bank was named the Philippines’ Best Bank by London-based financial magazine Euromoney for the way it handled its operations at the onset of the global health crisis.
“In the competitive field of Philippine banking, the best response to Covid-19 came not from the biggest banks but a rising star, Security Bank,” Euromoney said. “From the outset Security Bank took a stance of protection: of itself, its people, its customers and its community. It is testament to the bank’s policies that it not only stayed strong but grew.”