Bank of the Philippine Islands, the third-largest lender in terms of assets, said Thursday net jumped 23 percent in the first half to P25.1 billion from a year ago, driven by robust performance across business segments.
BPI said in a statement the remarkable performance in the first half resulted in a return on equity of 15.5 percent.
Revenues grew 13.8 percent to P65.6 billion, on the back of a 27.4-percent increase in net interest income to P50.1 billion, as the average asset base expanded 9.2 percent and net interest margin widened by 56 basis points to 4.03 percent.
This was tempered by the 15.4-percent decline in non-interest income to P15.5 billion on the property sale gain recognized in the prior year.
Removing the impact of the one-off transaction, non-interest income would be higher by P2.2 billion or 16.3 percent, led by the increase in fees from credit cards, various service charges and securities trading.
“The drivers of the strong financial performance [in the first semester] were average asset base expansion, margin growth and lower provisions,” the bank said.
Operating expenses climbed 21.4 percent to P31.4 billion, as the bank spent for structural and one-time salary increases, continued investments in digitalization programs and various marketing campaigns, rewards and other selling expenses.
Cost-to-income ratio stood at 47.9 percent, while asset quality remained robust with a non-performing loan ratio of 1.88 percent and NPL coverage of 167.44 percent as of June 30, 2023.
The bank recognized provisions of P2 billion in the first half, or 60 percent below the P5 billion recorded over the same period last year.
BPI booked a net income of P13 billion in the second quarter, up 4.5 percent year-on-year, even without the benefit of a one-time gain. Revenues reached P33.9 billion in the quarter, up 4.9 percent, owing to the decline in non-interest income offsetting the increase in net interest income.
“Without the effect of the prior year gain from property sale, quarterly net income would be higher by 49.3 percent from the same quarter last year,” it said.