BPI grants property dividends

MANILA, Philippines — Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) has rewarded eligible stockholders with property dividends to be paid at a future date, subject to regulatory approvals.

The bank, in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), said its board of directors approved the declaration of property dividends consisting of 406.18 million common shares held in treasury.

The banking arm of the Ayala Group pegged the entitlement ratio at 0.0896395563 common share of every one common share held by the BPI stockholder.

The dividends, according to BPI, will be distributed to all eligible stockholders on record as of March 29, 2023.

Last year, BPI’s income jumped by 66 percent to hit a record P39.6 billion, from P23.88 billion in 2021, driven by strong loan growth, higher net interest margin, and lower provision for potential loan losses.

The Ayala-led bank also said the windfall from a property sale in Makati City in the second quarter of last year boosted its bottomline.

Excluding the impact of the one-off gain from the property sale, BPI’s net income still jumped by 50.2 percent to P35.9 billion.

BPI’s total revenues hit a record P118.5 billion in 2022, up 21.7 percent from P97.4 billion in 2021.

Provision for bad debts fell by 30.2 percent to P9.2 billion from P13.13 billion, as asset quality continued to improve with the NPL ratio declining to 1.76 percent from 2.49 percent, while the NPL coverage ratio rose to 180.1 percent from 136.1 percent.

BPI’s loan book grew by 15.3 percent to P1.7 trillion from P1.48 trillion, led by growth in the credit card, corporate or small medium enterprises (SMEs), and auto portfolios of 31.1 percent, 15.5 percent, and 14 percent, respectively.

Total deposits expanded by 7.2 percent to P2.1 trillion from P1.96 trillion.

For the fourth quarter alone, its earnings surged by 41.4 percent to P9.1 billion from P6.4 billion in the same quarter in 2021 on higher revenue growth and also lower provisions recognized.

For 2022, the total assets inched up by 7.5 percent to P2.6 trillion. Total equity stood at P317.7 billion, with a common equity Tier 1 ratio of 15.1 percent and a capital adequacy ratio of 16 percent, both well above regulatory requirements.