BDO 9-month 2023 income up nearly 35% to P53.9B

MANILA  -Sy-led BDO Unibank Inc., the country’s biggest lender by assets, booked a net income of P53.9 billion during the first nine months of the year, putting it on course to eclipse record profit of P57.1 billion in 2022.

BDO said earnings from January to September surged nearly 35 percent “backed by broad-based growth across its core businesses”, a stock exchange filing on Wednesday showed.

The banking giant also underscored the improvement in its return on common equity to 15.1 percent from 12.4 percent during the same period last year.

BDO said it was “well-positioned to capitalize on opportunities given its strong balance sheet and diversified business franchise” despite challenges arising from elevated inflation and other “macroeconomic challenges”.

Gains during the period came as core net interest earnings grew 27 percent to P137.4 billion during the nine-month period. Consumer loans also expanded by 7.5 percent to P2.7 trillion while deposits grew 12 percent to P3.4 trillion.

Non-interest income grew 8.8 percent to P53.2 billion due to fee-based and treasury/foreign exchange-related gains.

BDO said its non-performing loan (NPL) ratio declined to 1.99 percent versus 2.23 percent last year despite elevated interest rates.

NPL coverage also rose to 176 percent from 152 percent as the lender sets aside “provisions in line with its conservative credit and provisioning policies”.

Common Equity increased to P494.3 billion amid continued profitable operations while its capital adequacy ratio and common equity tier 1 (CET1) ratio improved to 15.6 percent and 14.5 percent, respectively, which were above regulatory requirements.

Meanwhile, BDO announced the election of former Sen. Franklin M. Drilon to its board as an independent director.

“Drilon is one of the country’s highly decorated Senator having served four (4) non-consecutive terms as Senator of the Philippines,” the lender said. Drilon had also served as chair of Philippine National Bank and as a director of Land Bank of the Philippines.

It added that Ramon Vicente del Villar de Vera II, co-founder and former CEO of Aboitiz-led Union Digital Bank, joins BDO as senior vice president under the office of the president starting Nov. 16 this year.

“De Vera has more than 25 years of work experience, 22 years of which were in the banking industry,” BDO said on Wednesday.