Business

By Riza Lozada  The country’s largest Filipino-owned life insurance company, The Insular Life Assurance Co. Ltd reported a robust 179 percent growth in consolidated net income to P4.9 billion in 2016 as a result of higher gains from sale of shares of stocks and properties, investment income and earnings of the company’s affiliates. 

By Riza Lozada  The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has suspended 104 erring lending companies in the first four months of 2017, and will revoke the primary licenses of those on this list that fail to have their suspension orders lifted by May 22. 

Cement firm Eagle Cement Corp. priced the initial public offer (IPO) of its shares at P15 each. 

Broadcast giant ABS-CBN Corp. reported P9.6 billion in consolidated revenue for the first three months as consumer sales grew by 10 percent to P4.7 billion while its first quarter airtime revenues were 13 percent lower compared to the same period last year. 

Home-grown hydropower generation company, Hedcor Inc., was recognized as ‘Employer of the Year’ at the Kapatiran sa Industriya (Kapatid) Awards by the Employers Confederation of the Philippines. 

By Luis Leoncio  The Philippines is seeking the support of Japan for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) proposal to raise to 40 percent from 30 percent the currency swap through an International Monetary Fund (IMF) that will be free from the multilateral agency’s lending conditions. 

State pension fund Social Security System (SSS) urged private firms to design benefit programs that will meet their workers’ needs aside from the social protection provided by state-run pension funds. 

By Riza Lozada  Metrobank Group thrift bank unit Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) reported its net income grew by nearly a fifth in the first quarter from a year ago mainly as a result of the growth in its core revenues, composed of net interest income and fee based earnings and the bank’s operational efficiency. 

The Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), through its corporate social responsibility initiative, DBP Endowment for Education Program (Deep), has benefitted 3,567 poor but brilliant Filipino students nearly nine years since its inception in 2008. 

By Riza Lozada Slowing revenues from its mobile services re­sulted in telecommu­nications giant PLDT Inc. posting a core income of P5.3 billion in the first quar­ter, down 26 percent from a year ago.