Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) grew its profit by 7.8 percent to P33 billion in the first half of the year due to higher net interest income.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday, BPI said the latest figure was an increase from the P30.6 billion it recorded in the first half of 2024.

The growth was driven by net interest income of P71.2 billion, up by 16.2 percent year-on-year, after gross loans jumped by 14.1 percent mostly due to higher non-institutional loans.

Non-performing loans (NPL) ratio remained manageable at 2.25 percent. However, BPI expanded loan loss provisions by 141.7 percent to P7.3 billion as a prudential measure amid the robust demand for loans. These translated to a sufficient NPL coverage ratio of 123.8 percent.

Non-interest income also increased to P21.4 billion by 7.4 percent on the back of higher transactions on credit cards, insurance, and wealth management.

These pushed up the total revenues to P92.6 billion or a 14 percent growth.

Meanwhile, total deposits rose by 6.5 percent to P2.6 trillion, consisting mostly of current and savings accounts with low interest rates.

Given the higher interest-based income than depositor liabilities, BPI's net interest margin improved by 32 basis points to 4.58 percent.

Given the aforementioned figures, the bank increased its total assets by 9.3 percent to P3.4 trillion, while the total equity reached P453.5 billion at 11.5 percent growth.