FICOBank posted a significant profit for the year’s first half, even surpassing last year’s same-period net income of P12.6 million by 233 percent or P41.8 million—an all-time-high record in its bottom line for a semester in years.

The dramatic boost in net income is driven by the Bank’s strong lending activity, which resulted to a gross income amounting to P194.3 million (up from P155.4 million for the same period last year), and the decisive reduction in interest expense. In comparison to the same period last year, interest income grew by P36.2 million or 24 percent while non-interest income increased by P2.8 million or 79 percent. The fast-paced growth in non-interest income was primarily due to the intensification of the Bank’s fee- and commission-based services.

On top of the said accomplishments, the Bank continues to provide better yield on deposits vis-à-vis the industry average and 91-day T-bill benchmark. Meanwhile, the Bank’s earning asset has been hovering at a high level since 2010. For the past six months of the year, in review, the Bank had released P3.4 billion loans. And as of end-June 2012, the total loan portfolio soared to P1.5 billion, up by 25.8 percent from the year-ago level of P1.2 billion.

The Bank has also been efficient in using its resources over the last three years, as its annualized cost-to-income ratio went down to 71.4 percent, from 79.7 percent of the same period last year. Strikingly, the growth in net profit did better than the growth in total assets. As a result, the annualized return on asset increased to 4.1 percent, from the preceding year’s 2.7 percent. Likewise, the Bank’s annualized return on equity improved to 31.0 percent, from 20.9 percent of the same period last year.

On the growth trend of the balance sheet, the Bank registered a 13-percent growth (P254.3 million) in its total assets. The total capital of the Bank also rose by 22.8 percent, as of end-June 2012.

With the Bank’s exceptional and beyond-target performance for the first half of the year, as assessed during the Mid-Year Review and Planning on July 27, 2012, the participants, who are members of the Board of Directors, Senior Management, Operation & Banking Services Group and Administration & Support Services Group, reached a consensus to revised the full-year net income target of P63 million to P80 million. As the strategies are already laid down for the specified profit-generating prospects and identified potential problems, the President & CEO of the Bank, Mr. Herminio G. Ocampo, is optimistic that what has been planned will be realized at the end of the year.