BDO Unibank Inc., the country’s largest lender controlled by tycoon Henry Sy, said net income in the first nine months jumped 10 percent to P19.3 billion from a year ago, on strong loans and deposits.
“The bank’s core lending, deposit-taking and fee-based businesses delivered solid results during the period, offsetting a more normalized contribution from treasury activities,” BDO said in a statement Wednesday.
Net interest income grew 16 percent to P48.4 billion. Customer loan portfolio expanded 15 percent to P1.4 trillion, on broad-based growth across all market segments.
Meanwhile, total deposits rose 14 percent to P1.8 trillion, supported by the 21-percent increase in low-cost Casa (current account, savings account) deposits which now comprise 70 percent of total deposits.
Fee-based income also increased 15 percent to P16 billion, but trading and foreign exchange income declined 29 percent to P4.5 billion.
Operating expenses increased 29 percent to P52.8 billion, which reflected the consolidation of One Network Bank and BDO Life Insurance operations.
“On a comparable basis net of these new businesses, operating expenses would have grown by only 12 percent in line with the bank’s continued business expansion,” BDO said.
The bank said it remained prudent and set aside P2.6 billion in provisions even as asset quality held firm. Gross non-performing loan ratio was steady at 1.3 percent, while NPL cover remained high at 143 percent.
BDO’s capital base stood at P215.4 billion, with common equity Tier 1 and capital adequacy ratio both remaining above the current regulatory minimum under the Basel III framework.
The bank issued last month $300 million in fixed-rate senior notes at 2.63 percent, the lowest coupon rate for any US dollar-denominated bond for a Philippine issuer.