The Philippine Business Bank (PBB) maintained its robust performance as it reported a 58.5 percent year-on-year (YoY) increase in core earnings from January to June. This translates to P669.9 million revenues compared to P422.7 million in the same period last year.

Roland Avante, the president and chief executive officer of PBB, said the sustained business momentum the company started in 2017 was responsible for their success. He said it took them almost 21 months to achieve a P270 million income at end 2017.

“We are seeing sustained strong demand for financing, even as competition for funding has stiffened,” said Avante. “We see good opportunities for PBB in the next six months that should allow us to be selective in funding various projects and businesses.”

PBB said it had put up 87 additional branches since 2011, but Avante said the company plans to expand further across the country. This expansion will drive long-term value to PBB’s clients as well as uplift the small and medium enterprises in the Philippines, he added.

According to the executive, the bank’s healthy balance sheet also helped it achieve a surge in revenues. He said PBB’s total resources for the first semester of 2018 reached P92.9 billion, an increase of 26.1 percent versus the first half of 2017.

The bank’s loans and receivables, as well as its total equity, also gained by 31.9 percent YoY and 4.9 percent respectively. The loans and receivables amounted to P77.5 billion as of June this year.

The bank’s total deposits also grew by 29 percent amounting to P79.1 billion.