UNION WITH UCPB INFLATED LANDBANK Q1 PROFIT BY 141%

Land Bank of the Philippines’ (Landbank) merger with United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) bloated its first-quarter bottom line, which grew 141 percent year-on-year to P13.2 billion.

In a statement last Sunday, the state-run Landbank said its end-March net income climbed from P5.5 billion a year ago, partly due to onetime gains from absorbing troubled UCPB. Their merger took effect last March 1.

Landbank also attributed the jump in its first-quarter profit to “higher interest income from loans and investments” amid the economy’s recovery.

Given its higher net income, Landbank’s return-on-equity reached 14.3 percent at the end of the first quarter, above the domestic banking industry’s average of 9.1 percent as of end-2021.

Growth trajectory

“Landbank’s income expansion runs parallel with the country’s strong economic resurgence. We will build on this growth trajectory to continue assisting key development sectors and contribute to our collective recovery, to drive our broader thrust of serving the nation,” Landbank president and chief executive Cecilia Borromeo said.

Landbank said its “sound financial position furthered its capacity to provide financial and support services to the agriculture sector and other development industries,” citing a total of over P822 billion in outstanding loans to priority borrowers to date, including P236.9 billion extended to farmers and fisherfolk.

Its merger with UCPB also hiked asset base to P2.79 trillion as of March, up 16 percent from P2.41 trillion a year ago, as the shuttered state-run bank funded by Marcos-era coco levy funds added P291.8 billion worth of assets.