Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) posted a net income of P2 billion in the first quarter which reflected double-digit growth in net interest income, balancing out higher operating costs.

Net interest income jumped by 17 percent to P13 billion compared to the same period in 2023, as consumer loans expanded to 59 percent of the bank’s total portfolio, UnionBank’s disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange stated Monday.

“This is nearly three times higher than the industry average,” it noted.

UnionBank saw total loans hit P521 billion in the first three months of the year.

Meanwhile, non-interest income excluding trading gains rose by 13 percent to P4.7 billion.

Low-cost current account and saving account deposits stood at P431 billion.

As the bank earned more income than depositor liabilities, net interest margins improved by 59 basis points to 5.7 percent.

Total revenues grew by 14 percent

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Operating costs grew by 10 percent to P11 billion which UnionBank attributed mainly to its integration of Citi’s credit cardholders.

UnionBank said it shelled out P1.1 billion as a “one-time” expense on information technology-linked transactions to facilitate Citi’s consumer business integration which was completed last 24 March.

“This involved the transfer of millions of customer and transaction records from Citi to UnionBank’s platforms. While this temporarily affected our profitability, it was a planned initiative aimed at unlocking long-term benefits and efficiencies,” UnionBank said.

As a result of Citi’s integration, UnionBank said it had already more than doubled its customer acquisition rate.