MANILA – State-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) joined the elite ranks of trillion-peso banks in the country, as its total assets reached PHP1.04 trillion at end-2020, up by a whopping 37 percent from the PHP761.24 billion recorded the previous year, a top official said.
In a statement Thursday, DBP president and chief executive officer Emmanuel Herbosa said higher total assets was buoyed largely by the hefty increases in deposits which grew by 47.6 percent to PHP817.9 billion from PHP554.18 billion in 2019, and the 26-percent hike in investments to PHP260.1 billion from PHP206.57 billion the previous year.
“DBP’s latest milestone manifests the public’s continued confidence in DBP as a strong, stable and reliable financial institution,” Herbosa said. “We are emboldened by the fact that the bank was able to achieve this feat two years earlier than our projected timeline and despite the constraints of the prevailing public health crisis.”
DBP is the sixth-largest bank in the country in terms of assets and has been designated as the country’s Infrastructure Bank by the national government. It has a network of 129 full-service branch offices, including 11 branch lite units situated mostly in underserved and far-flung areas of the country.
Herbosa said total loans to borrowers as of Dec. 31, 2020 reached PHP423.32 billion, up 19 percent from the PHP356.75 billion outstanding principal balance (OPB) as of December 2019, with the majority of the credit assistance channeled to critical sectors and industries that were severely affected by the current economic downturn.
He said the bulk of the loan OPB as of December 2020 went to infrastructure and logistics which accounted for nearly 53.4 percent or PHP225.9 billion; followed by loans to social services and community development, PHP78.9 billion; environmental projects, PHP44.8 billion; and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), PHP32.8 billion.
“We remain committed to the collective and purposive efforts of the national government to bolster resiliency and carve a steady path to recovery and growth especially of our traditional customer segments,” Herbosa said.
DBP executive vice president for corporate services and concurrent head of operations Marietta Fondevilla said DBP’s net income for year-end 2020 decreased by 30.4 percent to PHP3.9 billion from PHP5.60 billion in 2019 due to higher loan loss provisioning and increase in operating expenses.
She said DBP’s gross margin from January to December 2020 grew by 5 percent to PHP20.91 billion from the PHP19.9 billion earned for the same period in 2019.
“DBP’s financial standing mirrors the general trend in the industry as (the) majority of the banks amplified actions in ensuring ample reserves to cover probable losses as a result of dwindling economic activity,” Fondevilla said. “We remain focused on delivering on our mandated role and mobilizing resources to spawn productive economic opportunities for our countrymen.” (PR)
