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MANILA, Philippines–The country’s leading lender BDO Unibank sees net profit this year hitting a new high of P38.5 billion, likely driven by a continued double-digit expansion in loan book, improved margins and steady fee-based income.
About a quarter of the full-year target had been achieved in the first three months of the year, during which BDO grew headline net profit by 66 percent year-on-year to P9.8 billion. Excluding non-recurring items that boosted comparative earnings last year, first quarter core earnings rose by 21 percent year-on-year, BDO president Nestor Tan said in a press briefing ahead of the bank’s stockholders meeting on Monday.
The first quarter performance was attributed to the continued expansion of core banking operations, recovery of trading gains to “normal” levels after a challenging period last year as well as strong results from bank fees and life insurance premium.
Net interest income rose by 25 percent to P27.7 billion in the first quarter, driven by a change in loan mix in favor of higher-margin segments and growth in low-cost current account and savings account (CASA) deposits.
For the full year, the net profit guidance of P38.5 billion marks a 17.7 percent growth from last year’s bottomline level of P32.7 billion.
“We expect loan expansion to continue but this time to be led by consumer and middle market which was the driver for last year,” Tan said.
BDO sees its loan book growing by 12-13 percent this year.
“We see continued but slower CASA growth but it’s no longer possible to grow in mid- to high- teens like in previous years. We expect margins to be stable as rates stabilize and trading gains will be driven by customer trading,” he said.