Bank of the Philippine Islands recognized net income of P12.1 billion for the first three months of 2023, up 52.0 percent compared to the same period last year, achieving a Return on Equity of 15.4 percent.
“The solid performance was attributable to average asset base expansion, margin growth, and lower provisions,” BPI said in a statement.
Total revenues for the first quarter of the year grew 25.1 percent to P31.7 billion propelled by the 27.2 percent increase in net interest income to P24.2 billion, on the back of a 10.0 percent expansion in average asset base coupled with a 52- basis point increase in net interest margin to 3.94 percent.
Further boosting revenues was the 18.6 percent jump in noninterest income to P7.6 billion, driven by higher credit card billings and charges, securities trading gains, and fees from investment banking project finance deals.
Total operating expenses for the first quarter was P15.1 billion on spending for manpower structural increases, milestone payments for digitalization initiatives, targeted marketing campaigns and rewards redemptions, and higher transaction-related processing fees.
Despite the 19.7 percent increase in operational expenses year-on-year, cost-to-income ratio was still lower at 47.5 percent on the strong revenue generation.
The bank noted continued strength in asset quality as the NPL Ratio improved to 1.82 percent from 2.38 percent in March 2022, with a robust NPL Coverage Ratio of 176.71 percent.
The bank booked provisions of P1.0 billion year-to-date, lower by 60.0 percent from the P2.5 billion recorded over the same period last year, as asset quality has been on an improving trend.
Total assets stood at P2.7 trillion, up 12.4 percent versus the same period last year, while Return on Assets was 1.88 percent.
Total loans as of March 31, 2023 climbed 13.6 percent to P1.7 trillion, coming from higher loan growth in the corporate, credit card, and auto portfolios of 12.6 percent, 38.7 percent, and 16.4 percent, respectively.
Total deposits also grew year-on-year to P2.1 trillion, up 13.6 percent. The Bank’s CASA Ratio was 70.3 percent, while the Loan-to-Deposit Ratio was 77.3 percent.
Total equity was P331.6 billion, with an indicative Common Equity Tier 1 Ratio of 15.7 percent and a Capital Adequacy Ratio of 16.6 percent, both above regulatory requirements.
In March 2023, BPI was recognized as the Best Employer Brand on LinkedIn in the over 10,000 employee category for successfully engaging with its talents through meaningful and relevant content and as a Diversity Champion finalist at the LinkedIn Talent Awards for initiating and inspiring meaningful conversations around diversity, inclusion, belonging and equity.
In April 2023, BPI launched its new and future-ready mobile app, built on a more modern system which features an improved user experience — customers can get things done in fewer taps, with top transactions that are easier to access upon login and faster to finish.
The new BPI app is part of the bank’s aggressive digital transformation journey and reinforces its solid footing as a digital banking leader in the Philippines.
