BPI bottom line rose 8% to P33B in the first semester

Robust lending boosted the profit of Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) in the first semester by 7.8 percent to P33 billion, although higher expenses tempered overall growth.

In a stock exchange filing on Thursday, the Ayala-led bank said its top line in the January to June period climbed by 14 percent to P92.6 billion.

This was due to a 16.2-percent rise in its net interest income to P71.2 billion.

Gross loans jumped by 14.1 percent to P2.4 trillion, mainly driven by noninstitutional loans.

As a result of the loan growth, nonperforming loan ratio, a key measure of asset quality, grew to 2.25 percent from 2 percent in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, noninterest income saw a 7.4-percent uptick to P21.4 billion on the back of BPI’s fee businesses, particularly credit cards, insurance and wealth management.

Overall growth was tempered by an 11.7-percent rise in operating expenses to P42.7 billion as BPI spent more on technology and manpower.

Total assets during the first half was pegged at P3.4 trillion, up 9.3 percent.

Last month, BPI raised P40 billion from its sustainability-linked bond issuance, its largest peso-denominated debt sale so far.

The “green” bonds were priced at 5.85 percent per annum and will mature in 1.5 years, with investors scheduled to be paid quarterly.

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Proceeds from the offer will be used to finance or refinance eligible green and social projects, such as renewable energy power plants and clean water and sanitation. Under its sustainability financing framework, unused proceeds cannot be used for other purposes.

This represents the first tranche of BPI’s P200-billion bond program approved in October 2024.

BPI treasurer and head of global markets Dino Gasmen said they saw strong demand from their clients and customers, “partly because of the awareness that it’s a sustainability bond.”

The bank earlier said it wanted to issue more sustainability-linked bonds, although it would also need to weigh it based on the eligible projects it can support.