The bank’s attributable net profit plunged 87.55% year on year to P270.14 million in the third quarter from P2.17 billion last year, based on its financial report disclosed to the local bourse on Monday.
Return on average equity stood at 8.5% as of September, down from 14% a year ago. Return on average assets also went down to 1.2% from 1.8%. “PNB continues to be profitable as it showed improvements in efficiency pushing our momentum towards achieving our strategic priorities,” PNB Acting President Florido P. Casuela said in a statement.
This brought the nine-month total to P26.78 billion, higher by 3.96% from the same period last year, amid higher interest rates.Meanwhile, net income from service fees and commissions went down by 17.02% to P1.17 billion in the third quarter from P1.41 billion a year ago amid lower loan, credit card-related, and bancassurance fees. For the first nine months, net service fees and commission income declined by 8.27% to P3.55 billion.
PNB’s operating expenses rose 14.15% to P7.34 billion in the third quarter. Year to date, operating expenses grew 12.27% to P22.24 billion due to property sale taxes as well as higher amortization costs for its leased properties that were the subject of the properties-for-shares swap conducted last year.
“The bank’s gross loan portfolio expanded to P638.3 billion as of end-September 2022, slightly up by 1% from the loan level last year as the bank further stretched its lending to large corporates during the period,” PNB said.