Itaú CorpBanca efforts 'bearing fruit'

Itaú CorpBanca's Colombian unit has climbed out of the red after posting losses in the country over the past few years.

The business - part of Chile-based Itaú CorpBanca - reported recurring net income of 1.58bn Chilean pesos (US$2.46mn) for Q2 following losses of 1.23bn in Q1 and 21.5bn for the whole of 2017.

Last year's loss was partly attributed to loan losses and operating expenses.

Itaú CorpBanca is the result of a merger between Itaú Chile and Chile's CorpBanca in 2016. The retail client migration process in Chile and Colombia has concluded and officials are now working on areas such as digital services and offerings and wholesale and retail business strategy, CFO Gabriel Moura said during a Q2 conference call.

Itaú CorpBanca's Chilean operations, meanwhile, reported recurring net income of 63.3bn pesos, up from 51.4bn pesos in Q1. Net interest income for Q2 was 144bn pesos, up from 134bn pesos, the bank said in a report.

Annualized recurring return on average equity for Chile and Colombia in Q2 was 13.7%, the highest recorded by the merged entity, while annualized recurring return on average assets was 0.9%, also a record for the lender.

"These are the highest returns we have presented since legal day one, an important milestone in this merger process," Moura said.

He said that efforts to create the bank that officials had envisaged were bearing fruit.

Moura said: "We set out a three-year plan to merge and to build a profitable and sustainable bank, leading here and in Colombia.

"We still have a lot of work ahead but I think this year's returns are an indication that we are on track."

Total assets stood at 29.3tn pesos, up from 28.7tn pesos at the end of Q1. The combined NPL ratio (loans 90 days overdue) was 2.3% at the end of Q2, down from 2.4% at end-Q1. The ratio in Colombia remained unchanged at 2.9% while the ratio in Chile edged down to 2.1% from 2.2%.