Published March 18, 2021, 5:00 AM
While earnings of most banks declined due to higher provisions, Gotianun-led EastWest Bank managed to post a 4 percent growth in net income to P6.5 billion last year from P6.2 billion in 2019.
“The pandemic defined EastWest’s operating results in 2020. Lockdowns, social distancing, and limited mobility resulted to the economy contracting by 9.5 percent and appropriately prompted the monetary authorities to loosen financial conditions,” EW Chief Executive Tony Moncupa said.
He noted that, “For EW, this meant lower growth as the uncertainties put resiliency at the top of its agenda. It also resulted in lower volume of new business, less transactions across all businesses, and higher provisions for loan losses.”