BDO income hits P11.7 B in H1

BDO Unibank Inc. registered a net income of P11.7 billion in the first six months of 2015, slightly higher than the P11.05 billion in the same period last year.

The country’s largest bank in terms of assets said net earnings reached P22.8 billion last year, and is targeting net income growth to P25.1 billion this year.

The bank’s sustained growth came from its lending and deposit-taking businesses, notable gains from fee-based and treasury activities, and managed operating expenses.

Customer loan portfolio was ahead by 16 percent to P1.1 trillion, while low-cost checking accounts and savings accounts deposits advanced 17 percent.

Meanwhile, net interest income (NII) grew to P27.1 billion, and operating expenses growth was sustained at 10 percent.

BDO’s sustained momentum in its core lending and deposit-taking businesses yielded a NII growth of 10-percent, which was tempered by the prevailing liquidity in the system.

Income from fee-based services and treasury activities increased 14 percent and further boosted the bank’s overall performance.

“As such, recurring revenue streams continued to account for over 83 percent of total operating income,” the bank said in a statement.

BDO’s asset quality showed sustained improvement with gross non-performing loan (NPL) ratio dropping further to 1.2 percent from 1.6 percent a year ago.

However, the bank continued to prudently set aside provision of P2.1 billion leading to a higher NPL cover of 198 percent against the 174 percent in the same period last year.

The leading commercial bank of the SM Group maintained a solid capital base of P181 billion, with both the capital adequacy ratio (CAR) and common equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio all comfortably above the regulatory minimum under the Basel III framework at 13.6 percent and 11.5 percent, respectively.

With a strong business franchise, sustained growth strategy and solid capital base, BDO remains well-positioned to take advantage of opportunities in a growing economy.

BDO has one of the largest distribution networks, with 897 operating branches in the domestic front, and over 2,700 ATMs nationwide.

It also has a branch in Hong Kong as well as 27 overseas remittance and representative office in Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East.