Security Bank Corp. yesterday said its net income for the first six months of the year reached P5.7 billion, 14 percent higher from year-ago level as a result of growth in net interest income and trading gains coupled with proactive provisioning.
Sanjiv Vohra, Security Bank president and chief executive officer, said the bank is “carrying forward the momentum from the first quarter, taking advantage of market opportunities for trading gains, along with prudent growth in the underlying core businesses.”
“As we expect the impact of the pandemic on our loan portfolio will continue to unfold over the coming quarters, we have adopted a proactive stance on our provisions. In spite of that, our balance sheet remains strong and allows us to invest in our transformation initiatives which help us deliver BetterBanking to our clients during these challenging times.” Vohra added.
Total revenues increased 68 percent to P25.9 billion. Excluding trading gains, total revenues grew 30 percent to P18.7 billion from a year ago. Total net interest income rose 34 percent to P15.8 billion. Securities trading gains totaled P7.2 billion, significantly higher than the P1 billion posted in the first half of 2019.
Pre-provision operating profit in the first half jumped 120 percent to P15.6 billion. The bank set aside P11 billion as provisions for credit losses, a significant increase versus P639 million last year, which reflects its proactive provisioning and anticipates a challenging economic environment brought about by the pandemic.
