AUB grows profit 36% to P11.3B

Asia United Bank (AUB) boosted its net income by 36 percent to P11.3 billion in 2024 as loan loss provision shrank by 74 percent.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday, AUB said its loan portfolio expanded by 26 percent to P245.4 billion compared to P194.5 billion in 2023.

Meanwhile, the non-performing loans (NPL) ratio hit its lowest at 0.3 percent. AUB said NPL coverage ratio remains sufficient at 113.7 percent.

Non-interest income also surged by 48 percent to P4.1 billion due to foreign exchange gains and service fees for credit cards, remittances, and online payment solutions from AUB PayMate and HelloMoney, an e-wallet.

AUB said there were additional 94,000 HelloMoney users this month, after the bank relaunched the e-wallet last November. HelloMoney, in partnership with Alipay+, allows payments to merchants in Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Japan.

Despite growth in deposit volume, AUB said interest expense for deposits declined by 3 percent from 4.8 percent.

Operating costs slightly grew by 6 percent to P6.8 billion due to higher compensation and capital expenditures. Still, the bank managed to improve its cost-to-income ratio to 32.8 percent from 36.2 percent.

Since it was publicly listed as a universal bank in 2013, AUB said its net income based on compounded annual growth has jumped by 21 percent, among the country's fastest.

Last year's profit led to a return on equity of 21 percent, up from 18.6 percent. Meanwhile, return on assets improved to 3 percent from 2.4 percent.

Total assets increased by 9 percent to P386 billion while total equity jumped by 19 percent to P58.4 billion.