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Saturday, January 14, 2006
BPI raises ’06 profit target to P7.8B with more gains from lendings to customers
Together with its newly acquired Prudential Bank (PB), the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) aims to raise its profit to P7.8 billion or higher this year.
BPI reported a profit of P6.7 billion last year.
“We expect a large amount of that (profit) to come from consumer and corporate lendings—the largest contributor to our profit,” said. BPI president Aurelio Montinola in a press interview last Thursday.
The bank held its annual meeting with preferred clients at the Casino Español de Cebu.
Increase
He said that BPI’s over- all lending was 12 percent up, including PB’s.
“But even without PB, it’s up by about eight percent,” he added.
However, Montinola said BPI does not expect to gain from PB this year.
“You hardly make anything from a bank you’ve just acquired. Typically, it takes you about three years to complete everything.
On the first year, you have to integrate and have to put up new ATMs (automatic teller machines) and teller equipment, among others,” he explained.
BPI acquired PB last year and Far East Bank in 2000.
BPI’s housing financing was also up 30 percent while its small and medium enterprise financing increased 12 to 15 percent, he added.
No threat
He said BPI is not threatened by the presence of foreign bank competitors.
“They (foreign banks) take the top end while we focus more and deal with the larger middle end groups and clients. We offer a wide variety of products and banking services to a wide range of people,” he said.
He added that BPI’s large network of 900 branches nationwide and its name that identifies it as a Filipino bank enables it to “do more” and compete.
BPI has 39 branches in Cebu, including the seven branches of PB.
Good returns
“We keep our customers happy and give good returns to our shareholders. That’s what matters to us,” he said.
Montinola also told bank clients in his speech that 2006 looks “rosy.”
“We’ve started the year with a strong peso. Hopefully, this will continue and end this year with a good economy for the country,” he said.
He said the financial Asian crisis that started to hurt the country in 1997 is about to end.
“We were able to handle the situation for the past years and now we are at the start of a new economic cycle. We are at the start of a good economic recovery. We believe the exchange rate will be reasonably stable,” he said. (ALC)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (January 14, 2006 issue)
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