SUN Savings Bank, which started operations just six years ago with assets of less than a hundred million pesos, has grown significantly over the last 12 months.
Total assets have surpassed the P1-billion mark to end the third quarter at a record level of P1.08 billion. This represents a hefty increase of 32 percent as compared to the year ago level of P820 million.
In line with the growth of the bank's assets, Sun Savings has also continued to expand its diversified loan portfolio consisting of Department of Education teachers loans, auto and home loans. As of September 30, the bank's loan portfolio increased to P725 million, which was a substantial 42 percent increase over the year ago level.
Despite the surge in loans, the bank has remained liquid, as the level of its liquid assets consisting primarily of cash and deposits and repurchase agreements with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has increased to P291 million, showing a growth of 19 percent over the year ago level.
Sun Savings Bank's impressive growth in total deposits, now reaching P713 million or an increment of 27 percent over the year ago level, has supported the bank's asset build-up. The deposits consist primarily of fixed rate time deposits (TDs) with maturities ranging from one to five years, giving the bank a very stable source of funding.
The bank has been offering rewarding rates, from 3.5 percent pa for one year TDs, up to 5.5 percent pa tax free for five years and one month TDs. It has also been the first bank in Cebu to introduce the payment of interest one year in advance, for its three-year and five-year TDs, in order to further reward its depositors for their hard-earned savings.
In September 2017, a group of prestigious financial institutions composed of Multinational Investment Bancorporation, Philippine National Bank, and Security Bank granted Sun Savings Bank an additional P115-million term loan. Through this facility, the group has demonstrated its continuing support for the growth of Sun Savings Bank, as well as its confidence in its management led by its president, seasoned banker Francisco A. Dizon, and treasurer, Augusto S. Gonzalez.
The same group of banks had previously granted the bank a P105 million five-year term loan in March 2014. The new facility will provide Sun Savings the additional resources to continue growing its loan portfolio and other earning assets, where the bank generated a higher Net Interest Margin of 6.5 percent in 2017, as compared to the previous year.
Mindful of the consistent growth of Sun Savings, its shareholders recently infused additional paid-in capital of P41.7 million into the bank (in October 2017). This is also in line with the shareholders' firm commitment to ensure the strength and stability of the bank. This has resulted in the increase of the bank's total paid-in capital to P216.7 million, an increase of 24 percent over the year-end 2016 level.
Including retained earnings, the bank's total capital base has now gone up to more than P230 million, even as P5 million in cash dividends had previously been declared and paid to the stockholders. As a result, the bank's Capital Adequacy Ratio or CAR is now estimated to be higher at 28 percent, nearly triple the level of the 10 percent required by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
The bank is expanding its reach, with a soon-to-be opened Other Banking Office or OBO in Danao City. This OBO will market the bank's deposit and loan products to the cities and towns in northern Cebu and the Camotes islands. The new OBO will be located at a strategically located mall, called Sands Gateway Mall Danao.
With the new OBO in Danao, the bank will now have a network of five branches and banking offices that will cover the whole of Metropolitan Cebu, which is composed of all the towns and cities starting from Carcar City in the south all the way up to Danao City in the north, a very progressive area with a population of over three million people. (PR)