Bank of the Philippine Islands reported that net income for the 2017 full year rose 1.7% year over year to 22.42 billion Philippine pesos.
The bank said net interest income climbed to 48.04 billion pesos as a result of asset growth and improvement in the net interest margin. Noninterest income slightly dropped 4.9% year over year to 22.98 billion pesos in the absence of the one-off trading gains recorded in the previous year.
Total revenues for 2017 amounted to 71.02 billion pesos, while comprehensive income came in at 22.41 billion pesos. The cost-to-income ratio for the period stood at 54.3%, up from 52.5% at the end of 2016.
Operating expenses grew 10.3% to 38.53 billion pesos, as spending on technology, operations and marketing increased. Provisions for loan losses for the period equaled 3.80 billion pesos, 20.9% lower than 2016.
Meanwhile, the bank posted a 14.9% rise in net income for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2017, to 5.37 billion pesos from 4.67 billion pesos in the prior-year period, owing to strong revenues.
At the end of 2017, Bank of the Philippine Islands' gross 90-day nonperforming loan ratio fell to 1.29% from 1.46% a year earlier, while the reserve cover ratio climbed to 129.2% from 118.7% over the same period.
The bank's capital adequacy ratio stood at 12.74% for 2017, while its common equity Tier 1 ratio was 11.84%.
As of Feb. 2, US$1 was equivalent to 51.69 Philippine pesos.
