BPI earnings inch up 1.7% in 2017

Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) managed to eke out a 1.7 percent growth in earnings last year.

BPI said it booked a net income of P22.42 billion in 2017, P370 million higher than the P22.05 billion recorded in 2016.

Excluding one-off gains from the sale of securities in 2016, the country’s third largest bank in terms of assets said its net income would have booked a higher increase of 3.1 percent to P22.41 billion from P21.74 billion.

For the fourth quarter alone, BPI profit grew 14.9 percent to P5.37 billion from P4.67 billion in the same quarter in 2016 on the back of robust revenue.

BPI president and CEO Cezar Consing said the bank “came out of 2017 stronger than ever.”

“While the bank has grown significantly in the past several years, we intend to continue to invest in people, technology and branches to support and benefit from a surging Philippine economy. Inclusive, profitable growth will be our focus,” he said.

Total revenues last year went up 6.7 percent to P71.02 billion as net interest income rose 13.4 percent to P48.04 billion as a result of asset growth and improvement in net interest margin.

The loan book of the 166year old bank grew 15.5 percent to P1.2 trillion driven primarily by corporate loans. Despite the increase, its asset quality improved with the gross 90-day non-performing loans (NPL) ratio declining to 1.29 percent from 1.46 percent, while its reserve cover ratio increased to 129.2 percent from 118.7 percent.

For 2017, non-interest income declined 4.9 percent to P22.98 billion due to the absence of the one-off trading gains recorded in 2016.

Net of one-off gains from the sale of securities in 2016, non-interest income grew by 18.4 percent.

The absence of one-off gains was partially offset by higher fee-based income that climbed 15.6 percent to P19.9 billion, driven by higher credit card fees, trust and investment management fees, insurance fees, bank commissions and service charges.

The bank said it continues to be a leader in profitability metrics, with cost-to-income ratio of 54.3 percent, slightly higher compared to 52.5 percent in 2016, driven mainly by digitalization initiatives.