BDO’s Q1 profit down 10% on trading, forex losses

BDO’s “ATM on Wheels bringing cash to customers during the ECQ”

The country’s leading lender BDO Unibank saw a 10 percent year-on-year drop in first quarter net profit to P8.8 billion, weighed down by trading and foreign exchange losses arising from turbulent financial markets.

“The core lending and deposit-taking businesses sustained their growth despite the imposition of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in mid-March. However, weak capital conditions impacted on BDO’s investment portfolio and dragged the bottomline,” the bank said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday.

BDO reported that net interest income in the first three months amounted to P33 billion, up by 19 percent year-on-year, on stable margins.

The bank grew its loan book by 11 percent to P2.2 trillion on continued growth across all segments, albeit the ECQ had started to disrupt operations of clients engaged in the business of providing “non-essential” goods and services.

Non-interest income declined by 39.5 percent to P9 billion.

“Weak capital market conditions resulted in unrealized mark-to-market losses in BDO Life’s equities and unit-linked portfolios, leading to consolidated trading and forex (foreign exchange) losses,” the disclosure said.

On the other hand, fee-based businesses contributed P8.1 billion in revenues, up from P7.33 billion last year. Insurance premiums, likewise part of non-interest income, improved to P3.9 billion from P3.2 billion in the same period last year.