BPI sees sustained earnings growth

MANILA, Philippines - Ayala-owned Bank of Philippine Islands (BPI) expects to sustain its earnings growth momentum this year as preliminary figures for the first three months indicate improvements in both corporate and consumer lending.

In a press briefing after the bank’s annual stockholders’ meeting, BPI president and CEO Cesar Consing said: “We have seen growth in our loan book. Our first quarter, we have growth momentum.”

BPI’s corporate loans, which account for 75 percent of its loan portfolio for the first quarter of 2014, grew more than 22 percent, said BPI head of corporate banking Alfredo Salcedo Jr.

BPI Family Bank president Teodoro Limcaoco, on the other hand, said auto loan releases alone for the first three months of the year increased more than 40 percent. Mortgage loans, meanwhile, was up by the mid-teens. Housing loans releases for the three-month period grew in the low teens as against the same period last year. Consumer lending accounts for 25 percent of the bank’s entire loan portfolio.

Geographically, Salcedo said lending in Metro Manila grew 20 percent in the first quarter while provincial lending was in the high teens.

With the growing loan portfolio, BPI retail segment and channel head Natividad Alejo said they are planning to put up 40-50 new branches within the next two years.

BPI global markets head Antonio Paner said they expect their margins to be at 3.4 percent this year as the bank continuously grows its balance sheet especially the loan side.

Earlier, Consing said they expect income growth at about 20 percent this year, as most of their efforts would be geared toward expanding their business operations.

In 2013, BPI’s net income rose 15 percent to P18.8 billion from P16.3 billion in 2012.

Consing said they plan to hire more people, improve their technology, and renovate and build more branches this year.

He said they intend to almost double the number of their workforce to 2,500 from the present 1,300.

BPI has successfully raised some P25 billion from the issuance of 370.37 million common shares (ratio of 1:9.602 common shares held or 10.4 percent of outstanding shares) at P67.50 per share.

The stock rights offer received very strong support from its shareholders, both domestic and foreign, with 99 percent take-up and over P33.5 billion of subscriptions.

After the successful rights offer, BPI is now among the best capitalized banks in the Philippines and Asia-Pacific, according to Moody’s.