The Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) said it expects to hit a new record profit this year despite a challenging global economic environment.
The bank expressed confidence as it released on Monday, April 21, its earnings results for the first quarter of 2025, showing net income or attributable profit up 9 percent at P16.6 billion from P15.3 billion in the comparable year-earlier quarter.
“Our plan is to have net income this year that will exceed last year’s net income,” BPI President Jose Teodoro Limcaoco said, referring to the full-year 2025 target. He was speaking at a news briefing following the bank’s shareholders’ meeting.
BPI announced its revenues for the first quarter this year grew 13.1 percent to P44.7 billion from P39.52 billion in the year-earlier period.
Net interest income rose 15.3 percent as a result of an 8.6 percent increase in average earning assets base, and a 30-basis point expansion in net interest margin to 4.49 percent, the bank said in a statement.
Non-interest income stood at P10.3 billion, up 6.3 percent, on higher credit card fees and transaction-based service charges, “which more than offset the drop in forex and trading income,” it added.
Limcaoco cited the country’s strong consumption economy and a controlled inflation environment as reasons for BPI to be optimistic about its prospects for the year.
“Obviously there are some headwinds here. We think that we need to be very mindful of what happens in the global economy,” Limcaoco said.
“There’s a lot of talk, a lot of possibility, about the global recession. That obviously will affect us here. But the Philippines, I think, should be better insulated than most,” he added.
BPI sees the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) being committed to keeping the economy strong.
“And with the Philippines being in a better position relative to the tariffs that the US has implemented across the globe, there could be some areas of advantage for us,” Limcaoco said.
BPI closed 2024 with an attributable profit of P62 billion, up 20 percent from P51.67 billion a year earlier. Revenues grew 23 percent to P170.1 billion from P128.29 billion in 2023.
Limcaoco said BPI is working to diversify its loan portfolio, increasing the share of consumer and small business loans in relation to institutional loans.
Institutional loans now account for 70 percent of its loan portfolio, while consumer and small business loans account for the balance.
Eric Luchango, BPI chief finance officer (CFO), said BPI sees its loan portfolio growing to the “low teens” this year, or by 12 percent to 13 percent.
“And so far, if you look at our first quarter versus last year, you’ll see 13.2 percent loan growth, and I think that’s fairly consistent with our expectation for the year,” he said.
Luchangco said BPI is currently experiencing a 28 percent increase in its consumer and small business loans, while institutional loans are growing by 8 percent.
“I think that’s reflective of how we continue to see the market moving forward, he added.
In terms of whether the bank can sustain its grown loan portfolio despite the global headwinds, Luchangco said the BPI can expect that to continue at this rate.
“We’re quite comfortable sticking with our original projections,” he added.
When it comes to consumer loans, BPI Mass Retail Products head Jenny Lacerna said the bank is confident that consumption will continue to drive growth in the consumer lending business given robust spending on essential goods and travel.
“While we see macroeconomic variables actually change today, we haven’t seen that affecting our books, both on credit cards and personal loans,” she said.
“Especially for the first quarter where we see an increase in travel spending, we see that in the high income segments — and it’s actually much bigger this year than what we have seen in 2024. So we still remain positive for consumer spending and also for loan availments,” Lacerna added.
BPI head of Consumer Banking Maria Cristina Go said the bank is optimistic of its electric vehicle (EV) and hybrid car loans, which account for 7 percent of BPI’s P108 billion car loan portfolio as of end-2024, compared with 0.5 percent in 2023.
“That really shows that the market for EV and awareness for sustainability is actually really growing among the customer base,” she added.
The bank is looking to grow assets under its wealth management business by 15 percent to 18 percent from P1.53 trillion in 2024, Maria Theresa Marcial, BPI Wealth president and chief executive officer, said.
BPI closed the first quarter of this year with a 15.35 percent return on equity and 2.05 percent return on assets.
Its total assets reached P3.3 trillion, up 6.9 percent from P3.09 billion. Gross loans totaled P2.3 trillion, up 13.2 percent from P2.32 billion.
Total deposits stood at P2.6 trillion, up 6.3 percent from P2.44 billion, with a loan-to-deposit ratio of 89.4 percent.
Shareholders’ equity amounted to P448.6 billion, up 11.3 percent, with an indicative common equity tier1 ratio of 14.69 percent and a capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of 15.43 percent.
