MANILA, Philippines — Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) hiked its provisions for bad loans nearly five-fold in the first nine months as gross income grew by 41 percent to P52.4 billion, the Ty-led bank said in a statement. As a result, Metrobank said its nine-month net income reached P11 billion. Amidst the effects of the pandemic looming over the economy, the bank’s overall performance is better than expected,” said Metrobank president Fabian Dee. While non-performing loans (NPL) have been relatively manageable so far, the bank has set aside P35.4 billion in provisions for bad loans, almost five times more than the P7.8 billion booked in the same period last year. As the global health crisis continues to constrain economic activities, net loans and receivables contracted by 13 percent year-on-year to P1.2 trillion.

Source: Philippine Star October 30, 2020 15:56 UTC