Banco de Oro profit up 10%

MANILA, Philippines - Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. (BDO), the anchor bank of the SM Group of Companies, said Tuesday its income in the second quarter went up 10 percent to P1.1 billion from P1 billion in the same period a year ago due to a general improvement in the business environment.

“Sustaining earlier gains, the bank’s loans, deposits, net interest income and fee-based income continued to grow. Income from trading activities also improved with a more stable financial environment,” BDO said in a statement.

Compared to the first three months of 2009, the bank’s second quarter earnings likewise improved by 11 percent.

For the entire first semester, however, BDO’s profit dropped 10 percent to P2.1 billion due to the absence of one-time gains.

BDO said the first half numbers “still represents a 62-percent growth on a recurring basis, excluding extraordinary items recorded in 2008.”

Gross customer loans grew 28 percent year-on-year to P414.4 billion as of the second quarter on broad-based demand from all market segments.

Deposits increased 26 percent to P627.1 billion, driven by inflows of low-cost deposits and the redeployment of branches in high-growth areas.

Net interest income for the six-month period, meanwhile, rose 32 percent year-on-year to P14.3 billion due to a larger level of earning assets and an improved funding mix.

Fee-based income grew 11 percent to P4.5 billion on the back of higher contributions from fund management, remittances, credit cards, cash management, investment banking and bancassurance.

Trading and foreign exchange gains improved 46 percent to P1.9 billion as the bank’s treasury operations benefited from a more stable financial market. The bank maintained its conservative outlook by boosting provisions 64 percent to P2.5 billion.