MANILA - BDO Unibank on Monday said it posted P21.4 billion in profit for the first 6 months of the year due to sustainable earnings and normalized operations.

Customer loans were flat at P2.3 trillion compared to the same period last year while total deposits grew to P2.7 trillion, it said in a disclosure to the stock exchange.

Current Account or Savings Account deposits rose 13 percent, BDO said.

"BDO's solid balance sheet, healthy digital capital position and sustained earnings performance put the bank in a good position to leverage on the country's economic recovery," it said.

BDO said its total provisions amounted to P6.8 billion as it continued to build its buffer against possible "pandemic-induced delinquencies," lower than the pre-emptive provisioned in the first half of 2020.

Gross non-performing loan ratio is at 3.1 percent, or below its worst-case expectations of 4 to 5 percent, BDO said.

Banks, although considered as essential facilities, also temporarily shut branches last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More Filipinos are also turning into online channels for their financial needs.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) earlier said banks were optimistic but bad loans are expected to remain high.

• Banks still 'upbeat' but expect bad loans to remain high: BSP

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