East West Banking Corporation Reported P3.5 Billion in Net Income for H1-2024

EastWest Banking Corporation (EW) registered P3.5 billion in net income for the first half of 2024, on the back of consistent core revenue growth from a bigger asset base and higher yields.

Net revenues ended at P20.3 billion, up by 24% from the same period last year, largely driven by net interest income growth of 28% to P16.6 billion. Net interest margin (NIM) widened to 8.1% resulting from its focused growth in consumer lending, which accounts for 82% of the Bank’s total loan portfolio. Non-interest income, meanwhile, contributed P3.7 billion, up by 12% despite lower trading income. This was primarily driven by fee income growth of 19% to P2.7 billion, from consumer lending-related fees and service charges.

The Bank’s operating expenses grew slower than revenues, rising by 22% to P11.6 billion driven by manpower, business-related, advertising, and marketing expenses in line with balance sheet growth initiatives to improve market share in target segments. Cost-to-income ratio of the Bank improved to 57% in line with the industry, despite its predominantly-consumer loan portfolio.

EastWest’s total assets ended at P495.6 billion, growing by 14% from the same period last year. The Bank is on track to end the year with over P500 billion in assets, one of the many milestones for its 30th year anniversary. Total loans and receivables also grew by 15% to P314.1 billion driven by the 22% growth in consumer loans, led by personal loans (up 54%), credit cards (up 34%), and auto loans (up 22%). This was supported by funding from deposits which grew by 11% to P371.4 billion, anchored on a CASA ratio of 77%. Capital ratios stand at a healthy 13.1% and 12.3% for Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) and Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio respectively, well above the regulatory requirements.

As the Bank celebrates its three decades in the industry, we are proud to launch our new mobile banking app, EasyWay. Designed to make banking easy, simple, and more accessible with its modern functionalities, this is positioned to drive more potential business in addition to improving the current customer experience---the latest testament to the Bank’s innovative banking solutions.

One of which has recently been recognized by the Asian Banking and Finance Retail Banking Awards 2024 as Mobile Banking and Payment Initiative of the Year---the EastWest System Tech Assistant (ESTA), the Bank’s Facebook Messenger-based chatbot for credit card services which harnesses the power of AI technology.

In addition, EastWest has also been recognized in the first half of 2024 by The Digital Banker’s Digital CX Awards – Outstanding Digital CX in Banking App Platform (Komo) and Outstanding Digital CX Transformation in Insurance (EastWest Ageas).

“Our 30th anniversary is not just a celebration of our past achievements, but also a reaffirmation of our commitment to continuous improvement and innovation. The launch of EasyWay and our upcoming initiatives for our channels, both physical and digital, are just the beginning of many developments to come,” emphasized Jerry G. Ngo, EastWest CEO.

East West Banking Corporation (EastWest) is a Filipino-owned universal bank. EastWest is a subsidiary of Filinvest Development Corporation (FDC), one of the country’s leading conglomerates with a diverse range of interests including real estate, banking, hospitality & tourism, infrastructure power generation, and sugar. It is not affiliated with any foreign financial institution which may bear the same name.