BDO’s 9-month income hits P17B

BANCO de Oro Unibank’s net income rose by 5.4 percent year-onyear to P17.6 billion in the first nine months of the year as the bank booked higher earnings from core businesses despite a more challenging macroeconomic environment.

BDO’s January to September earnings accounted for 70.1 per- cent of the bank’s full-year profit-guidance of P25.1 billion. This brought the bank’s return on equity to 13.02 percent, showing a more stable performance compared to last year.

For the third quarter alone, the bank’s net profit rose by 3.3 percent year-on-year to P5.88 billion.

The latest results incorporated the completion of BDO’s acquisition of Mindanao-focused One Network Bank (ONB), a leading rural bank, which added over P20 billion to the bank’s total loans and deposits.

BDO, managed by the country’s leading conglomerate SM Investments Corp., grew its loan book by 19 percent year-on-year to P1.2 trillion in the first nine months of the year. On the funding side, BDO’s total deposits rose by 12 percent year-onyear to P1.6 trillion, driven mostly by a 16-percent hike in low-cost deposits from January to September. This allowed the bank to grow its net interest income by 12 percent year-on-year to P41.8 billion.

Fee-based service income contributed P13.9 billion to noninterest income. Trading gains and foreign exchange income, on the other hand, stood at P6.3 billion, slightly up from around P6 billion in the same period last year.

Overall, BDO’s gross operating income went up by 11 percent year-on-year to P65.6 billion in the first nine months.

Despite increased business volume and sustained branch expansion, the country’s leading lender capped the growth of its operating expenses at 11 percent.

On asset quality, gross non-performing loan (NPL) ratio stood at 1.2 percent of total loans compared to 1.4 percent from a year ago.