BDO close to hitting P10.5B profit

MANILA, Philippines—Banco de Oro Unibank is close to achieving this year’s net profit goal of P10.5 billion, potentially a record-high earnings level for the banking arm of tycoon Henry Sy.

But BDO is bracing for a more challenging operating environment in 2012 given lingering external uncertainties and prospects of slower domestic economic growth.

The bank’s net profit guidance of P10.5 billion was set 19 percent higher than the level a year ago.

“We’re very close to meeting our target of P10.5 billion. We’re keeping our fingers crossed,” BDO president Nestor Tan told reporters Wednesday night.

As of the first nine months of the year, BDO had booked P7.6 billion in net profit, up by 19 percent year on year, on higher loan volume, fee-based earnings and treasury gains. This translated to an annualized return on common equity of 11.8 percent.