BDO posts record-high net profit of P25B

MANILA, Philippines - The country’s largest bank BDO Unibank Inc. posted a record-high net profit of P25 billion for 2015, matching its earnings guidance for the year despite a challenging operating environment. The bank grew its net profit last year by 10 percent.

“This represents an increase of 10 percent year-on-year, matching the bank’s earnings guidance for 2015 despite the challenging operating environment,” the bank said.

The Sy family-led bank also achieved another milestone by ending 2015 with assets breaching P2 trillion, the first domestic bank to do so. 

The total assets of the country’s largest bank grew 7.5 percent to P2 trillion last year from P1.86 trillion a year ago.

The bank booked a net interest income of P57 billion as its customer loan portfolio grew 17 percent to P1.3 trillion, while total deposits rose 12 percent to P1.7 trillion.

On the other hand, non-interest income rose to P31.9 billion with fee-based service income contributing P19.4 billion and trading and foreign exchange gains accounting for P7.2 billion.

This translated to a 10 percent increase in gross operating income to P88.9 billion.

“The sustained expansion in lending, deposit-taking and fee-based businesses drove the bank’s solid performance last year,” BDO said.

The bank’s operating expenses grew 14 percent due to sustained business and branch expansion as well as the consolidation of One Network Bank (ONB) in July last year.

BDO’s non-performing loan (NPL) ratio improved to 1.2 percent last year from 1.3 percent in 2014 but the NPL cover rose to 166 percent as the bank earmarked P3 billion in provisions.

The capital base of the Sy-led bank stood at P200 billion translating to a capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of 13.3 percent, well above the 10 percent required by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).