MANILA – -Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) targets to sustain its double-digit income growth this year after an 11 percent expansion in 2017.
The bank ended 2017 with an income of PHP4.3 billion, partly boosted by the 16 percent growth in total customer loans portfolio.
RCBC President and CEO Gil Buenaventura said they “like it to be higher” for this year.
“We’re in the lending business so growth would come from the lending side also,” he said in a briefing Friday.
Last year, the bank posted across-the-board increase in its loan portfolio, led by the 39 percent rise of loans to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), followed by the 29 percent in credit card receivables, 15 percent increase in consumer loans, and 12 percent uptick in corporate loans.
To date, consumer loans account for about 20-26 percent of the total portfolio, SME, 12 percent; and the remainder by corporate loans.
RCBC Corporate Planning head Chrissy Alvarez said they are putting more effort on the consumer and SME business in line with the sustained domestic expansion.
Last January, the bank announced a plan to raise up to PHP15 billion its additional capital through stock rights offering (SRO), proceeds of which will be used to strengthen loans business, among others.
In a disclosure, the bank said it targets to focus on consumer, middle market and the microfinance sectors through sustainable loan expansion.
“Through that capital we hope to support loan growth in the next three years,” Alvarez said in the same briefing.
RCBC Savings Bank Rommel S. Latinazo, on the other hand, said RCBC’s thrift banking arm registered its record-high profit of PHP1.35 billion in 2017 after it rose 34 percent year-on-year.
He attributed the strong increase in income to “expansion of core consumer loan portfolio, and some efficiencies in terms of cost management.”
Bulk, or 94 percent, of the loans were accounted for by auto and mortgage loans, which Latinazo expects to remain robust this year, with loans projected to rise double digit.
“We continue to be optimistic as far as market prospect is concerned,” he said, but warned of being cautious after car industry officials projected a flat growth this year.
Latinazo said they need to be “conservative” and take the cue from industry players.
He, however, stressed that “we have a pretty good coverage of the market and that is what is giving us the confidence” amid increased competition.
RCBC officials, meanwhile, expect domestic interest rates to go up this year.
They expect the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to hike rates by a total of 50 basis points this year and this is seen to start in March.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is seen to grow by seven percent this year, higher than last year’s 6.7 percent and is the lower end of the government’s seven to eight percent target for 2018-22.
The peso is seen to touch the 52.75 level to a US dollar but end the year at 50.90 to 51-level.
Inflation is seen to range between four and 4.5 percent this year based on the 2006 base year and end the year close to four percent using the 2012 base year.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) is seen to remain strong and finish the year between 9,300 and 9,500 points. (PNA)
