BPI’s Q1 earnings surge on interest income

The Ayala conglomerate’s Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) saw earnings surge in the first quarter of 2022 following a jump in interest income and a sharp reduction in provisions for bad debts as the economic activity recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic.

BPI ended the January to March period with a net income of P8 billion, up 59.6 percent, as revenues increased 4.3 percent to P25.4 billion, a statement on Thursday showed.

BPI attributed the gains to higher net interest income, lower loss provisions and normalized tax expenses.

During the period, interest earnings rose 12.7 percent to P19 billion while net interest margin edged higher to 3.43 percent.

Lower securities trading gains, service charges, bank commissions and underwriting fees pulled down noninterest income by 14.5 percent to P6.4 billion. BPI said the drop was tempered by foreign exchange gains of P702.1 million.

Meanwhile, loan loss provisions fell 30.6 percent to P2.5 billion as the government loosened pandemic restrictions in the first quarter of the year, which helped business activity ramp up.

Nonperforming loan (NPL) ratio improved to 2.38 percent from 2.49 percent as of December last year while the NPL coverage ratio stood at 149.6 percent.

Overall operating expenses rose 6.5 percent to P12.6 billion.

BPI ended the first quarter with a total loan portfolio of P1.5 trillion, up 7.1 percent on higher volumes across corporate, mortgage and credit card portfolios.

Total deposits were also up 13.1 percent to P1.9 trillion.

Total assets reached P2.4 trillion, up nearly 10 percent while total equity stood at P300 billion. It had an indicative common equity Tier 1 Ratio of 16.2 percent and a capital adequacy ratio of 17 percent, which exceeded regulatory requirements, the statement showed.

—MIGUEL R. CAMUS