BPI posts record profit

BANK of the Philippine Islands’ (BPI) net profit rose by 20% year on year to a record-high P62 billion in 2024 driven by double-digit revenue growth.

This translated to a return on equity of 15.1% and return on assets of 2%, the bank said in a disclosure to the stock exchange.

For the fourth quarter alone, BPI’s net income grew by 8% year on year to P14.1 billion.

Its financial statement was unavailable as of press time.

The bank’s revenues increased by 23% to P170.1 billion last year, it said.

This came as its net interest income rose by 22.3% to P127.6 billion, driven by a 16.8% expansion in its average asset base expanded 16.8%.

Its net interest margin widened by 22 basis points (bps) to 4.31%, it added.

“Further boosting revenues was the 25.3% increase in non-interest income to P42.6 billion, driven by higher income from the credit card, wealth management and bancassurance businesses, as well as gains from securities trading,” BPI said.

Meanwhile, its operating expenses increased by 21.3% to P83.8 billion due to higher manpower, technology, and volume-related costs.

Its cost-to-income ratio went down by 71 bps to 49.3%.

BPI also set aside loan loss provisions of P6.6 billion last year, up 65% from the 2023 level.

The bank’s loans stood at P2.3 trillion at end-2024, expanding by 18.2% year on year. This total includes the loan portfolio that BPI acquired from Robinsons Bank Corp. following their merger that took effect in January 2024. Excluding the boost from Robinsons Bank, BPI’s own loans grew by 13% last year.

“Institutional loans grew 11.1%, while non-institutional loans soared 41.7%, driven by strong growth across all portfolios led by Business Banking, up 126%, Personal Loans, up 92.1%, and Microfinance, up 62.3%,” BPI said.

Its nonperforming loan (NPL) ratio stood at 2.13%, with its NPL coverage ratio at 106.2%.

On the funding side, BPI’s total deposits rose by 13.9% to P2.6 trillion, which it said was mainly driven by an increase in time deposits.

“Total funding grew 14.2% to reach P2.78 trillion, driven by a shift from time deposits to bonds issuance as a more cost-efficient funding source, leading other borrowed funds to rise 19%,” it said.

“The bank’s CASA (current account, savings account) ratio was 63.2%, with the loan-to-deposit ratio at 87.5%, while CASA versus total funding was at 59.5% and loan-to-total funding was at 82.3%.”

BPI’s assets expanded by 14.9% to P3.3 trillion at end-2024.

Total equity was at P430.5 billion. Its indicative common equity Tier 1 ratio was at 13.8% and its capital adequacy ratio of 14.5%, both above regulatory requirements.

BPI’s shares climbed by P3.80 or 3.27% to close at P120 apiece on Monday. — A.M.C. Sy