Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) delivered another year of solid performance with record full year net income of PHP 62.0 billion ($1.05 billion), up 20% year-on-year, driven by revenues which was partly offset by higher operating expense and provisions.
Return on equity stood at 15.1% and return on assets at 2.0%. For the fourth quarter of the year, the bank recorded net income of PHP 14.1 billion ($240.9 million), up 8% year-on-year, on higher revenue growth.
The bank generated robust revenue of PHP 170.1 billion ($2.9 billion), up 23.0% from the previous year, attributable to the 22.3% increase in net interest income to PHP 127.6 billion ($2.1 billion), as the average asset base expanded 16.8% and net interest margin widened 22 basis points to 4.31%. Further boosting revenues was the 25.3% increase in non-interest income to PHP 42.6 billion ($727.9 million), driven by higher income from the credit card, wealth management and bancassurance businesses, as well as gains from securities trading.
Operating expenses for the year stood at PHP 83.8 billion ($1.4 billion), up 21.3% year-on year, on higher manpower, technology and volume-related expenses. Cost-to-income declined 71 bps to 49.3%.
The bank booked full-year provisions of PHP 6.6 billion ($112.7 million), up 65.0% from last year. NPL ratio was at 2.13%, with the NPL coverage ratio at 106.2%.
Total loans stood at PHP 2.3 trillion ($39.2 billion), an 18.2% increase over the previous year, inclusive of the portfolio acquired from the merger with Robinsons Bank Corporation. Excluding this, organic loan growth remained strong at 13.0%, with growth in both our institutional and non-institutional segments. Institutional loans grew 11.1%, while non-institutional loans soared 41.7%, driven by strong growth across all portfolios led by business banking, up 126.0%, personal loans, up 92.1%, and microfinance, up 62.3%.
Total funding grew 14.2% to reach PHP 2.78 trillion ($47.4 billion), driven by a shift from time deposits to bonds issuance as a more cost-efficient funding source, leading other borrowed funds to rise 19.0%. Total deposits stood at PHP 2.6 trillion ($44.4 billion), up 13.9% year-on-year, mainly from the growth in time deposits. The bank’s CASA ratio was 63.2%, with the loan-to-deposit ratio at 87.5%, while CASA vs total funding was at 59.5% and loan-to-total funding was at 82.3%.
Total assets stood at PHP 3.3 trillion ($56.3 billion), up 14.9% year-on-year. Total equity stood at PHP 430.5 billion ($7.3 billion), with an indicative common equity tier 1 ratio of 13.8% and a capital adequacy ratio of 14.5%, both above regulatory requirements.
The bank ended 2024 with a total of 22 branches certified as green buildings, under the International Finance Corporation - Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies (IFC-EDGE).
Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker