Gotianun-led East West Banking Corp. expects higher earnings this year as positive indicators in the first quarter of 2023 show that its growth trajectory is intact.

EastWest Bank’s newly appointed CEO Jerry G. Ngo said on Monday their first quarter financial performance remained “robust”, given the momentum carried over from the latter half of 2022.

“We are very glad to see it has been consistent. We are hoping this will continue and even increase in the latter part of the year,” he told reporters during a virtual briefing after their annual stockholders’ meeting.

“I think normalized 2023 [income] should be much better than 2022,” he added.

EastWest Bank earlier announced core earnings in 2022, which excluded one-off gains, grew 42 percent to P4.6 billion while revenues were up 12 percent to P28.1 billion.

During the briefing, Ngo also underscored improving credit quality although they remained wary of risks from rising interest rates.

“[T]he overall market has been affected by rising interest rates and so that is something we are very focused on in term of ensuring we continue to have sufficient liquidity to support our loan growth,” he said.

He said EastWest will also aggressively expand its consumer loan portfolio. “We redoubling our efforts on the consumer lending sector,” he said.

The lender will earmark spending on “technology and data investments” this year. It also remains open to acquisitions is complementary or “adjacent” businesses, however, Ngo did not provide details.

Ngo and EastWest Bank president Jacqueline S. Fernandez were recently appointed CEO and president, respectively. They replaced Antonio C. Moncupa, who led the bank for 16 years.

On Monday, EastWest elected Francis Nathaniel C. Gotianun and Ambassador Joseph D. Yap to the lender’s board. They replaced Moncupa and director Wilson Sy. Moncupa has moved up as director of the bank’s parent firm, Filinvest Development Corp.

https://business.inquirer.net/397392/eastwest-ceo-sees-bank-posting-higher-earnings-in-2023