Chinatrust reports 173% surge in Jan.-May net income

Chinatrust Commercial Bank Corp. Philippines said Thursday that its net income rose by almost 200 percent in the first five months, helped by stronger overall operations after heavy investments a year earlier. Its net income surged by 173 percent to P234 million, from P85.7 million in the first five months of 2009, the bank said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange. “The bank is now reaping the benefits of a rationalized service delivery system and consolidated operations," Mark Chen, president and CEO of Chinatrust said in a statement. "[We] invested heavily in information technology and service delivery infrastructure last year in the effort to build a stable platform for sustainable growth," "Our financial performance [this year] would indicate that we are now starting to benefit from these investments," Chen added. The bank’s net interest differential business also generated P666.9 million in profits as of end-May, up by P91.6 million from last P575.3 million year-on-year. Its profits from combined fixed-income trading and foreign exchange operations totaled P89.3 million, up by 180 percent from P31.9 million. —Nikka Corsino/VS, GMANews.TV