BankCom Q1 net income rises by 13%

MANILA, Philippines — Bank of Commerce (BankCom), the banking arm of conglomerate San Miguel Corp., booked a 13-percent rise in its first-quarter net income to P866.8 million on gains from loans, trading and foreign exchange.

In a regulatory filing on Friday, BankCom said its net interest income had jumped by 11 percent in the January to March period to P2.5 billion on the back of expansion across all lending segments.

This resulted in gross revenues climbing by 13 percent to P3 billion, according to BankCom.

Meanwhile, other income surged by 26 percent to P503.09 million due to stronger securities trading, foreign exchange gains and revenues related to real and other properties acquired.

BankCom likewise saw higher trust, credit card and trade finance fees.

The loan book expansion, however, led to higher nonperforming loan ratio, a key measure of asset quality. It ended at 0.5 percent from 0.37 percent in the same period last year.

Excluding provision for credit and impairment losses, operating expenses rose by 11 percent to P1.8 billion, “consistent with the bank’s efforts to broaden its market share.”

As of end-March, total assets stood at P257.08 billion.

Double-digit ROE

BankCom’s financial performance likewise resulted in a return on equity of 10.27 percent, up from 9.87 percent.

In February, the bank raised P18 billion from its bond issuance, its highest fundraising via the debt market to date as investors flocked to fixed-income securities.

READ: BankCom raises record P18B from bond issuance

BankCom’s issuance was 3.6 times oversubscribed from the P5-billion base offer due to strong demand from retail and institutional investors.

Overall, BankCom raised P10 billion in series C bonds, which have a tenor of two years and a rate of 6.1942 percent, and P8 billion series D bonds, which have a tenor of five years and rate of 6.3494 percent per year.

The offering represents the third tranche of BankCom’s P50-billion bond program that was upsized from P20 billion originally.

BankCom raised P7.5 billion in the first tranche in July 2022 and P6.57 billion in the second tranche last May 2024.

This came as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas began its monetary policy easing cycle, making fixed-income securities like bonds more attractive to investors as these promise higher yield.