Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) led by bankero Eugene Acevedo managed to improve its non-performing assets in terms of repossessed cards by 60 to 70 percent between December and April.
RCBC head of consumer lending group Ramil De Villa sees a continued expansion in the bank’s auto loan business, particularly in the fourth quarter of the year.
“There is no more swelling in the yards – one of the best indicators that we are doing it right in auto lending. We will continue to be a relevant market player in auto, but we will do it cautiously,” the bankero said.
In order to reduce the instances of loan default during the COVID-19 pandemic, De Villa said the Yuchengco-led bank revisited its defense system.
Instead of taking back the purchased units, the bankero explained a lot of accounts were put under the bank’s COVID-19 Assistance Recovery Enhancement Program (CARE).
Through the program, borrowers were able to repackage their payments and restructure their loans to provide much needed support during the height of the pandemic.
“We manage to generate income while cautiously growing auto loans through better operations and stronger collections. If you have stronger defense, you can protect your existing portfolio,” De Villa added.
RCBC also sees a strong growth in its housing loan portfolio as it has a robust pipeline for home loans.
“For mortgage, we have a growing pipeline. For the next two quarters, mortgage will see a steady growth to reach its target,” De Villa said.
The banking sector booked a nine percent growth in housing loans last year.
In the first quarter of the year, RCBC exceeded its performance when it comes to consumer loans, with mortgage and auto loans at P1.3 billion and P1 billion in sales, respectively.
Auto and housing loans account for 20 percent of the total loan portfolio as of end March.
The earnings of RCBC jumped by 36 percent to P2.1 billion from last year’s P1.58 billion, while its total assets stood 20 percent higher at P962 billion – with loans and receivables and investment securities comprising 56 percent and 29 percent of the total, respectively.
