BDO Unibank Inc., the country’s largest lender controlled by tycoon Henry Sy, said Monday net income in the first nine months rose 5 percent to P20.4 billion from a year ago, driven by the sustained growth in core lending, deposit-taking and fee-based businesses.
BDO said in a disclosure to the stock exchange net income would have grown 17 percent in January to September, after excluding extraordinary items primarily related to the consolidation of life insurance business (BDO Life) in 2016.
“With a strong capital base, solid business franchise and extensive geographic reach, the bank is well-positioned to take full advantage of the country’s growth opportunities and further strengthen its dominance in the industry,” BDO said.
Net interest income grew 23 percent to P59.8 billion, on the back of an 18-percent increase in customer loan portfolio to P1.7 trillion as broad-based expansion was seen across all market segments.
Asset growth was funded by the 15-percent hike in total deposits to P2.1 trillion, buoyed by the 20-percent increase in current account/savings account, representing 73 percent of total deposits.
Non-interest income went up 9 percent to P34.8 billion. Fee-based income expanded 30 percent to P20.8 billion, insurance premiums went up 19 percent to P7.2 billion, while trading and foreign exchange income fell 26 percent to P3.3 billion.
Operating expenses increased 20 percent to P63.6 billion. On a comparable basis net of extraordinary items, operating expenses would have risen 13 percent, in line with the bank’s continued business expansion.
BDO said it remained prudent and set aside P4.4 billion in provisions even as gross non-performing loan ratio and NPL cover remained steady at 1.3 percent and 136 percent, respectively/
The bank’s capital base stood at P294.7 billion, with common equity tier 1 and capital adequacy ratio both comfortably above the current regulatory minimum under the Basel 3 framework at 13.4 percent and 15.1 percent, respectively.
BDO said earlier it expected net profit this year to grow 10 percent year-on-year to P28.81 billion amid the robust domestic economy that would sustain the expansion of core businesses.
