BDO profit down 1.5% in first half

The country’s largest lender BDO Unibank saw a 1.5-percent year-on-year dip in its first semester net profit to P13.1 billion on accounting adjustments at its insurance arm and expenses for the expansion of its rural bank arm.

Excluding the impact of accounting adjustment at BDO Life and expenses from the expansion of One Network Bank, BDO said its first semester net profit would have increased by 13 percent year-on-year given the double-digit growth in earnings from core lending businesses.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, BDO said net interest income rose by 19 percent year-on-year to almost P46 billion in the first half as its loan book expanded by 20 percent to P1.9 trillion with lending to all market segments increased.

Net interest margin improved to 3.5 percent from 3.43 percent last year due to an increase in low-cost funds coupled with upward loan repricing due to rising interest rates.

Noninterest income hit P22.8 billion in the first half, down by 2 percent year-on-year, as the 23-percent growth in insurance premiums to P5.6 billion and the 7-percent growth in fees and other income to P17.2 billion were offset by mark-to-market losses on BDO Life’s portfolio.

Service charges and fees remained strong, but they were tempered by weak underwriting and syndication activities in the capital markets. Overall, gross operating income grew by 11 percent to P68.8 billion.

On the funding side, total deposits expanded by 17 percent to P2.3 trillion, supported by the 14 percent hike in low-cost deposits which represented more than 70 percent of total deposits.

BDO’s operating expenses also rose by 12 percent in the first semester as the bank opened 45 new branches and paid higher documentary stamp taxes (DST) as part of the recently implemented tax reform. Excluding the impact of higher DST, BDO estimated that operating expenses would have risen by only 10 percent.

Meanwhile, the bank set aside P3.5 billion for loan losses even as gross nonperforming loan (NPL) ratio fell to 1.2 percent of total loans from 1.3 percent in the previous year.

For every P1 worth of bad loans, the bank has now set aside P1.58 in provisions compared to P1.37 in the previous year.

BDO’s total capital amounted to P303 billion, with capital adequacy ratio and common equity tier 1 ratio at 14 percent and 12.4 percent, respectively.