Land Bank of the Philippines, a government financial institution, on Thursday said net income reached P5.74 billion in the first semester of 2012, boosted by revenues from loans and investments.

 

That was 3.83 percent higher than the P5.52 billion it made a year earlier.

 

Prudent management of operating costs helped boost the first half income, LandBank president and CEO Gilda Pico said in a statement.

 

“Our solid performance for the first half of the year is driven primarily by the consistent upward trend in our revenues from loans and investments,” Pico noted.

 

“This also reflects the Bank’s prudent management of operating costs and increased focus on strengthening other areas of profitability to better serve our priority sectors,” she added.

 

Its capital totaled P72 billion as of end-June, bringing capital adequacy ratio – which indicates a bank’s financial strength – to 20.81percent. 

 

The ratio is more than double the 10 percent minimum required by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. 

 

Return on equity stood at 16.13 percent.

 

“These strong capital ratios attest to LandBank’s sound financial position and reflect its capacity to aggressively expand its loan portfolio to its priority sectors including farmers and fisherfolk cooperatives, microenterprises and SMEs, agribusiness, local government units and rural banks,” said Pico.

 

LandBank reported P9 billion in net income last year, up 11 percent from P8.1 billion a year earlier.

 

The state-owned lender is among the Philippines’ Top 5 commercial banks in terms of deposits, assets, loans and capital. — VS, GMA News