In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Thursday, EastWest reported a net income of P2 billion in the first 3 months of the year, down 10% year-on-year. The company blamed “lower loan volumes across loan products, higher taxes, and lower trading gains” for its lackluster performance last quarter. Worsening the slump was the interest rate cap on credit cards imposed by regulators last year, which pulled down the bank’s net interest margin to 7.5% from 8.1%. Lower GDP typically means lower loan growth,” EastWest said. Moving forward, Tony Moncupa, company chief executive, expects lower provisions to continue cushioning the impact of falling net interest margins and trading gains on EastWest’s balance sheet.

Source: Philippine Star May 20, 2021 09:00 UTC