BDO Unibank Inc. (BDO) reported an all-time high net income of P28.1 billion in 2017 on strong growth across all business segments, matching the bank’s earnings guidance and marking a seven percent rise year-on-year.

Excluding consolidation effects of the life insurance business, however, this represented a strong 15 percent jump in core earnings on the back of solid growth in loans, low-cost deposits and fee-income.

The sustained expansion in lending, deposit-taking and fee-based businesses drove the bank’s solid performance last year.

Customer loans rose by 18 percent to P1.8 trillion on broad-based increases across all loan segments, while total deposits went up by 11 percent to P2.1 trillion, led by the 12 percent growth in low-cost CASA deposits (comprising 73 percent of total deposits).

As a result, net interest income rose by 25 percent to P81.8 billion. (PR)