BPI Q1 net income up 52% to P12.1B

The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) on Thursday announced a 52% jump in its first-quarter net income, as the lender reported higher margins and lower provisions during the period.
 
In a regulatory filing, BPI said its net income climbed to P12.1 billion as revenues grew 25.1% to P31.7 billion. Net interest income rose 27.1% to P24.2 billion, while non-interest income increased by 18.6% to P7.6 billion.
 
Operating expenses for the period climbed 19.7% to P15.1 billion as it spent on manpower structural increases, milestone payments for digitalization initiatives, marketing campaigns, rewards redemption, and higher transaction-related processing fees.
 
Total assets rose 12.4% to P2.7 trillion, as loans increased by 13.6% to P1.7 trillion. This was led by corporate loans, which were up 12.6%; credit cards, which were up 38.7%; and auto portfolios, which were up 16.4%.
 
Deposits increased by 13.6% to P2.1 trillion, bringing the CASA ratio to 70.3% and the loan-to-deposit ratio to 77.3%.
 
The company last week said it expects to beat the previous year’s banner net income of P39.6 billion in 2023 as the company continues to record demand despite the higher interest rates.
 
The Monetary Board of the BSP has already hiked key policy rates by 425 basis points since May 2022, with the latest being a 25-basis point increase that took effect on March 23 to bring the benchmark rate to 6.25%.
 
BPI last week called on its mobile banking users to move to its new application, as the earlier version is set to be phased out by the end of the year.
 
Select services of the bank will be temporarily unavailable for 12 hours on Sunday, April 23.
 
Its principal subsidiaries include BPI Family Savings Bank Inc., BPI Capital Corp., BPI Direct BanKo Inc., BPI International Finance Limited, BPI Remittance Centre Hong Kong Ltd., BPI (Europe) Plc., BPI/MS Insurance Corp., BPI Asset Management and Trust Corp., and BPI Investment Management Inc.
 
BPI shares were trading at P101.80 apiece as of 2:22 p.m. on Thursday. —VBL, GMA Integrated News