The president of the Dominican Popular Bank, Manuel A. Grullon, reported yesterday Monday 11 February that the institution closed its books on 2012 with total assets of RD$223.44 billion, an increase of RD$17.871 billion, representing a growth of 8.69% in relation to the total of RD$205.57 billion in 2011.
Grullon added that at the close of 2012 the Banco Popular presented gross earnings of RD$5.90 billion, which after subtracting the amount paid in taxes, ascending to RD$1.75 billion, produced net earnings of RD$4.15 billion, reflecting a 21.34% earning on investments.
He said that the bank’s net loans portfolio had increased to RD$143.88 billion, which is a 14% increase, surpassing by some RD$17.34 billion the value reached in the same period in 2011, whose close marked RD$126.52 billion.
He said that this growth was mainly geared at commercial loans to the productive sectors and medium and small-scale companies, representing an increase of RD$12.90 billion. For their part, the consumer loans grew by RD$3.29 billion while mortgage loans accounted for RD$1.14 billion.
Grullon said that the increase in the loan portfolio was achieved by making significant improvements to the quality indicators, as seen in the portfolio of payments due and in arrears represented just 1.30% of the gross loan portfolio, which reflects, compared with 2011, a favorable reduction of 0.06% and an improvement in the coverage index of the performing loans from 193.88% to 199.69%.