BSP H1 profit doubled on lower expenses
A double-digit drop in expenses lifted earnings at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in the first half, with net income doubling to over P140 billion.
The BSP netted P147.6 billion in the January-to-June period, more than twice the P70.3 billion recorded in the same period last year, according to data posted on the central bank’s website.
Broken down, revenues grew 3.1 percent from a year earlier to P144.4 billion. Interest income, which cornered the biggest share of total revenues, went up 4.4 percent to P126.3 billion.
But miscellaneous income—which includes trading gains and losses, fees, penalties and other operating income—edged down 5 percent.
At the same time, total expenses fell 17.1 percent to P85.7 billion. Interest expenses plunged over 43 percent to P39.5 billion. That offset a 38-percent increase in other expenses to P46.2 billion.
The central bank also booked a net gain of P88.9 billion from fluctuations in foreign exchange rates on its foreign currency-denominated transactions, almost triple the amount recorded a year earlier.
Amid the stronger profit, the BSP’s total assets edged up 3.9 percent from a year earlier to nearly P8 trillion.
International reserves, which accounted for most of the central bank’s assets, rose over 7 percent to P6.4 trillion. Loans and advances—which includes loans borrowed from overnight lending facility, if there is any—grew 22 percent to P150.1 billion.
Those increases were partly offset by declines in domestic securities and other assets.
