BANK of Commerce (BankCom) is looking to increase the share of retail loans in its portfolio to help boost its margins amid easing borrowing costs.
“Similar to many of the other banks in the Philippines, we expect a decreasing interest rate environment over the next few months at least. So, what our focus has been on is really just ensuring that we are focused on maintaining our current revenue streams. One of the things we’ve started looking at is increasing our share of retail in our loan business,” BankCom Chief Financial Officer Antonio S. Laquindanum said during the Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc.’s Investor Day held online on Thursday.
He said the retail sector accounts for just 13% of their loan book. BankCom’s consumer loans include car, housing, and salary loans, as well as credit cards.
At end-September, BankCom’s total loans and receivables grew by 10.02% to P150.18 billion from P136.51 billion at end-December 2024.
“So, over the next few years, we plan to be growing that to become a bigger share of our loan book. That will help manage the decreasing interest rate environment for us while still being focused on credit quality, as well as expenses outside of the required investments in technology, people, and branch growth.”
Mr. Laquindanum said the bank targets to bring the share of consumer loans to above 15% of its total portfolio in the next few years through online sales and deals, where its cards business is more aggressive in offering discounts.
The bank will also be investing heavily in branch expansion outside of Metro Manila, he added.
“But in terms of branch expansion, that’s something management is going to be focused on at least in the next year in terms of capital expenditures. One of the ways we’re managing that is our initial focus on branch-lites. We’ve found that they’re about half the cost of a full branch,” he said, adding that branch-lite units bring in a “significant” amount of business at more than half of what a regular branch produces.
BankCom’s net income rose by 11.47% to P884.29 million in the third quarter amid higher revenues, bringing its nine-month profit to P2.745 billion, up 24.11% from P2.21 billion a year ago.
Its shares closed at P8.40 apiece on Thursday, up by 11 centavos or 1.33% from the previous day’s close. — Aaron Michael C. Sy
