(Philippines) – The Philippines’ largest bank, Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co (Metrobank), has delivered a near 50 percent jump in first quarter 2002 profits to 602.08 million pesos (US$11.9 million).Whether Metrobank can sustain the performance is being debated within an environment of slack loan demand causing banks to provide highly competitive rates at slimmer margins.
The bank has produced net interest income of 2.26 billion pesos during this first quarter and has provisioned 210.93 million pesos for probable losses, relative to total assets of US$8.67 billion. Non performing loans of 18.06 billion pesos, 10.83 percent of total loans, as of 22 March, doesn’t help its short-term future performance.