Bank of the Philippine Islands, the third-largest lender in terms of assets, posted a record net income of P39.6 billion in 2022, or 66 percent higher than in 2021, driven by strong loan growth, higher net interest margin, lower provisions and a gain from a property sale.
BSP said in a statement over the weekend the remarkable performance translated into a return on equity of 13.14 percent and return on assets of 1.59 percent.
“Excluding the impact of the one-off gain from the property sale, net income stood at P35.9 billion, up 50.2 percent,” the bank said.
BPI said that in the fourth quarter, net income climbed 41.4 percent year-on-year to P9.1 billion.
The bank generated record revenue of P118.5 billion in 2022, up 21.7 percent year-on-year, boosted by the 22.2-percent growth in net interest income to P85.1 billion, on the back of asset base expansion and improvement in net interest margin by 28 basis points to 3.59 percent.
Non-interest income grew 20.3 percent to P33.5 billion, primarily from the one-off gain on the property sale, higher fees from the credit cards business and transaction banking services and gains from foreign exchange transactions.
Total operating expenses grew 14.3 percent to P58.0 billion, with all categories showing increases, led by technology and marketing. The cost-to-income ratio was 48.9 percent, but excluding the property sale, the ratio would have been 51.1 percent.
The bank booked provisions of P9.2 billion, a 30.2-percent reduction from a year ago. Asset quality continued to improve with the nonperforming loan ratio declining to 1.76 percent, while the NPL coverage ratio rose to 180.1 percent as of end-2022.
Loans grew 15.3 percent year-on-year to P1.7 trillion, led by growth in the credit card, corporate/SME and auto portfolios of 31.1 percent, 15.5 percent and 14 percent, respectively.
Deposits expanded by 7.2 percent to P2.1 trillion, while CASA (current and savings account) increased 3.5 percent. The CASA ratio stood at 74.4 percent and the loan-to-deposit ratio at 81.2 percent.
The bank’s total assets rose 7.5 percent year-on-year to P2.6 trillion. Total equity stood at P317.7 billion, with a common equity tier 1 ratio of 15.1 percent and a capital adequacy ratio of 16 percent, both above regulatory requirements.
BPI is the first Philippine bank to have five International Finance Corp.-Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies certified bank branches in the Philippines. These are located in Iloilo Solis, Loyola Katipunan, Guiguinto, San Fernando Highway Main and North Greenhills.
An IFC-EDGE certified branch means 20 percent savings in energy, water and embodied energy in materials, demonstrating BPI’s commitment to global sustainability standards.
The bank also received 10 ESG-related awards from well-recognized publications establishing BPI’s continuing leadership in the sustainability space in 2022.
The 171-year-old BPI is the first bank in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, licensed as a universal bank by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to provide a diverse range of financial services, including deposit taking and cash management, payments, lending and leasing, asset management, bancassurance, investment banking, securities brokerage foreign exchange and treasury.