The Bank of the Philippine Islands, the lending arm of the Ayala Group and one of the oldest bank in Asia, said Thursday first-quarter net income surged 52 percent year-on-year to P12.1 billion, bolstered by higher asset base, margin growth, and lower provisions.
The first-quarter results gave BPI a return on equity of 15.4 percent.
The bank said total revenues for the first three months of the year rose 25 percent to P31.7 billion, lifted by a 27 percent increase in net interest income to P24.2 billion due to a larger asset base and an increase in net interest margin to 3.94 percent.
Fee-based and other income was up nearly 19 percent to P7.6 billion due to higher credit card billings and charges, securities trading gains, and fees from investment banking project finance deals.
Operating expenses total P15.1 billion, up almost 20 percent due to spending for manpower structural increases, milestone payments for digitalization initiatives, targeted marketing campaigns and rewards redemptions, and higher transaction-related processing fees.
The bank said total assets stood at PHP2.7 trillion, up 12%. Total loans climbed nearly 14 percent to P1.7 trillion on account of double-digit growth in loans to corporate, credit card, and auto portfolios.
BPI said asset quality continued to improve with non-performing loan ratio easing to 1.82 percent at the end of March from 2.38 percent in the same period last year.
