EastWest Bank President & CEO Antonio C. Moncupa Jr. answering questions from stockholders during the bank's 2017 Annual Stockholders Meeting, with EastWest Chairman Jonathan Gotianun (right).

April 21, 2017, Pasig City — East West Banking Corporation (EastWest), one of the country's fastest growing universal bank, held its annual stockholders' meeting today and declared cash dividends amounting to P500 million or P0.33334 per share to stockholders. The bank also declared cash dividends last year that amounted to P400 million.

President and CEO Antonio C. Moncupa Jr. reported on the bank's performance and plans for the coming years, noting that the significant improvement in the company's operating results starting last year affirms the efficacy of its business model and its expansion program in the last few years.

The retail business transfer is aligned with Standard Chartered Bank's global strategy to focus on retail markets where it has scale. Standard Chartered has been present in the Philippines for over 144 years, and is the oldest international bank in the country. It will continue to operate as a corporate bank and its clients will be serviced through a corporate branch located at 7/F Standard Chartered Building, 6788 Ayala Avenue, Makati City.

According to Moncupa, the bigger store network and manpower complement, up-to-date technology infrastructure and expanded product offerings all contributed in putting EastWest in a more competitive position.

Last year, the bank also completed the transfer of the retail banking business of Standard Chartered Bank Philippines which included credit cards, personal loans, wealth management and retail deposits – a key step in the bank's growth strategy and further enhances EastWest's retail and consumer banking scale. The bank's focus now is to optimize its investments and improve operating leverage.

"As our stores mature, we expect to narrow the gap with our competitors and go near the business levels of our benchmark banks particularly in deposits, business loans, and wealth management," Moncupa added.

More than half of EastWest's store network have been operating for less than five years as they were opened during the bank's store network expansion program that began in 2012.

"We are very excited with the growth prospects of the Bank especially since this means a lot of career opportunities for EWBankers as we further deepen and widen our executive bench. This is a natural consequence of the increasing breadth of our operations," Moncupa added. EastWest announced recently the creation of a Deputy CEO position to boost its top executive rank.

At the same meeting, all nine incumbent members of the Board were re-elected: chairman Jonathan T. Gotianun; directors Mercedes T. Gotianun, Lourdes Josephine G. Yap, Wilson L. Sy, Antonio C. Moncupa Jr; independent directors Jose S. Sandejas, Carlos R. Alindada, and Paul A. Aquino; and Atty. Benedicto M. Valerio Jr. as corporate secretary.