The Tribune

Commonwealth Bank yesterday attributed its 7.6 per cent profit increase for the 2016 third quarter to a combination of improved interest margins, expense controls and relatively low non-performing loan ratio.

William B. Sands Jr, its chairman, said the BISX-listed institution’s non-performing loans, as a percentage of total credit, were less than one-third of the commercial banking industry average.

“The improvement in net interest margin continues to be a key contributing factor, along with the effective management of our credit portfolio and our focused attention on expense mitigation practices,” said Mr Sands.

“The bank continued to focus on high quality credit opportunities, which resulted in a non-performing loan ratio of 4.58 per cent, while the industry average as of September 30 was 14.3 per cent.”

Commonwealth Bank’s $47.3 million net income for the nine-month period to end-September 2016 compared to $43.9 million the year before.

The BISX-listed institution’s unaudited results showed total assets of $1.5 billion, an increase of 1 per cent since the 2015 year-end.

Total revenues increased by 6.1 per cent to $119.1 million, up from $112.3 million for the same period last year, while net interest income rose 6.6 per cent to $107.5 million.

Mr Sands said the bank provided significant support to its staff, customers and the community in Hurricane Matthew’s aftermath, and represented a true example of “Bahamians helping Bahamians”.

The BISX-listed institution extended more than $500,000 in assistance, including donations to the Bahamas Red Cross, the National Emergency Management Agency and the Salvation Army.

“Commonwealth Bank is committed to the ongoing development of our dedicated and highly-motivated staff, as evidenced by the opening of our new $800,000 dedicated corporate learning centre on Prince Charles Drive,” Mr Sands said.

Its share price was $10.44 at end-September 2016, up from $7.84 at December 2015.