Bank of the Philippine Islands, the third-largest lender in terms of assets, started on Monday its second peso fixed-rate bond offering this year in the aggregate principal amount of up to P5 billion.
BPI said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Monday the bonds would have a tenor of one and a half years and an interest rate of 4.05 percent yearly to be paid quarterly. The minimum investment amount is set at P1 million and in additional increments of P100,000.
The bank set the offering period from March 2 to 17, 2020, and the issue and listing date on March 27, 2020.
BPI said aside from having an option to upsize the amount of offering, it might also adjust the timing of the sale.
“This offering is aligned with our strategy to grow and diversify our funding sources,” it said.
“We will continue to explore similar opportunities to further increase our capacity to deliver relevant financial services to more Filipinos,” the bank said.
BPI Capital Corp. and ING Bank N.V., Manila branch are the joint lead arrangers of the offer. BPI Capital is the sole selling agent, while ING is a participating selling agent.
The bank, owned by conglomerate Ayala Corp., remains one of the biggest lenders in the industry in terms of assets, loans, deposits and branch network.
BPI’s net income in 2019 jumped 25 percent to P28.80 billion from P23.08 billion a year ago, driven mainly by the strength of its core businesses.
Net interest margin increased to 3.35 percent from 3.11 percent a year earlier. Higher fee-based income and securities trading gains boosted non-interest income by 25 percent to P28.39 billion.
Operating expenses reached P50.08 billion, up 14.8 percent from the previous year’s figure, while the cost-to-income ratio fell to 53 percent from the year-ago’s 55.5 percent.
Loans extended to consumers, corporates and small and medium enterprises helped total loans reach P1.48 trillion, an increase of 8.9 percent from a year ago.
Meanwhile, total deposits rose 6.9 percent year on year to P1.70 trillion.
Total assets grew 5.7 percent to P2.21 trillion with a return on assets at 1.38 percent.
Net income in the fourth quarter of 2019 rose 12 percent to P6.77 billion.