Boasting on double–digit increase in revenues and net profit for its third quarter ending June 2018, National Commercial Bank (NCB) remains bullish on breaking record profit year-on-year and has turned its attention to creating more efficiency for its mortgage and car loan portfolios.

President and Group Chief Executive Officer Patrick Hylton, while boasting on revenue for the quarter of $20.2 billion and net profit of $7 billion, told investors that the institution is now focused on reinventing its core business and has begun work on its digital experience and operational efficiency to transform the financial services industry.

“We have been doing a lot of work focused around improving operational efficiency. We now have as much as one third of our customers with unsecured loans benefiting from a straight-through process, which has reduced the end to end for loan submissions,” Hylton said, speaking at NCB Financial Group Ltd Investors’ Briefing for the third quarter ended June 30, 2018 at NCB Wellness & Recreation Centre in New Kingston on Friday.

“So there is no intervention in the process of application through to approval, and the intention is to apply this concept to other lending products, including mortgages and car loans, and we are doing a lot of work in that area,” he continued.

The financial conglomerate which grew both revenue and net profit 33 per cent higher year-on-year, said it has achieved its highest results to date and exceeded the annual results for the 2017 financial year. Hylton, in a statement adjoining the company’s financials, attributed NCB’s success to increased core activity and gains from foreign currency and investment activities.

The group’s loans and advances, net of provision for credit losses, had the lion’s share of growth for the third quarter, totalling $361.3 billion, an increase of $149.2 billion or 70 per cent over the prior year.

In addition to the consolidation of Clarien, NCB posted growth for all business segment loan portfolios: corporate up 36 per cent, retail up 21 per cent, credit card receivables up 15 per cent, and offshore up 36 per cent.

Operating income — which improved over the prior year by 27 per cent or $11.7 billion to $56.0 billion — saw increased gains from foreign currency and investment activities of $5.8 billion. Net interest income for the bank grew by 15 per cent or $3.2 billion, resulting from volume growth in the loan portfolio and the consolidation of Clarien’s results. Net fee and commission income had increase of 13 per cent or $1.3 billion.

“In addition to the consolidation of Clarien’s results, we continue to experience higher transaction volumes at our e-commerce channels and increased pension fee income. This performance is in the context of strong fiscal performance by the GOJ, a high level of liquidity which has created demand for assets and an accommodative policy stance by the BOJ which led to declining market interest rates,” the group CEO said.

Driven by innovation, expertise and financial strength, according to NCB, the group continues to make significant investments in building a “world-class digital experience”, and has developed applications for credit card alerts, account opening, loan origination and fulfilment processes.

The bank also launched its mobile application for Android users last Friday and expects compatibility with iOS devices by December 31.

“We are on a transformational journey to become a fully digital and agile enterprise that allows our employees and our customers to build, grow and to flourish financially,” Hylton said.