EastWest banks on new offers for ’25
East West Banking Corp. expects to achieve a double-digit growth rate in its net income this year.
The Gotianun-led bank thinks so as it launches new products aimed at attracting more clients.
EastWest CEO Jerry Ngo told reporters in a recent interview they had “a good strategy in place.”
Ngo said this could improve efficiency and grow this year’s bottom line by 25- to 32-percent.
“Hopefully, we’ll not just get the same trajectory but also become more efficient. The underlying performance is better,” Ngo said.
This comes after EastWest launched a new Visa credit card in partnership with Puregold Price Club Inc.
The grocery retail chain has 2 million members in its Puregold Perks Club.
Under their partnership, every P30 spent at Puregold will be converted to 1 reward point.
A conversion rate of P100 to 1 point will be applied for all other transactions.
Ngo said they expect to onboard Puregold’s users and add to EastWest’s 1.4 million credit cards in circulation.
‘Very optimistic’
“We’re very optimistic,” the CEO said of the new card’s impact on EastWest’s consumer loan growth.
“We need to do more because it’s sub-segmentation, sub-utilization, different use cases, and so on,” he said. I’m hoping it has a big impact.”
Mia Tamayo, head of EastWest’s credit card business, also hinted at new credit card partnerships. However, she was mum on specific details.
Last year, EastWest posted a 25-percent surge in its net income.
Profits reached a record-high P7.6 billion as consumer loans drove growth.
The bank disclosed that its net interest income had likewise jumped by a fifth to P33.5 billion. Consumer lending, which comprises 82 percent of EastWest’s total loans, expanded by 16 percent.
Meanwhile, noninterest income swelled by 20 percent to P8.9 billion on increased transaction fees and trading gains.
Total assets of EastWest, the banking arm of conglomerate Filinvest Development Corp., reached P523.7 billion as of end-December.
