BPI earnings jump 83% in Q2

Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) earned 83 percent more to hit a record level in the second quarter, boosted by the sale of a prime property in Makati City.

The 170-year-old bank booked a record quarterly net income of P12.5 billion from April to June this year, which included proceeds of the sale of a property on Chino Roces Avenue in Makati City.

Excluding the impact of the asset sale, BPI’s net income still hit a quarterly record of P8.7 billion, up 28 percent from the same quarter last year.

During the quarter in review, revenues jumped by 35.6 percent to P32.3 billion on robust net interest income and non-interest income. Even without the one-time gain from the sale of the Makati property, revenues would have reached a quarterly record of P27.3 billion.

For the first half of the year, BPI’s net income jumped by 73 percent to P20.4 billion from P11.8 billion, as revenues increased by 19.8 percent to P57.6 billion from P48.1 billion.

The bank said the result in the first semester is inclusive of a net gain on sale of property and tax adjustments due to the implementation of Republic Act 11534 or the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) law.

Excluding the impact of the asset sale and tax adjustments, BPI’s net income would be up by 24 percent to P16.7 billion from January to June this year.

This was driven by the 16.2 percent increase in net interest income to P39.3 billion on the back of faster loan growth and a 15-basis point expansion in net interest margin to 3.46 percent.

Likewise, it registered a 28.4 percent jump in non-interest earnings to P18.3 billion as fee income surged by 42.2 percent, slightly tempered by notably lower securities trading gains that came off a high base last year.