BANK of Commerce (BankCom) booked a 12.62% increase in its net income for the first quarter, backed by sustained revenue expansion despite market volatility due to the Middle East war.

The bank’s net profit rose to P976.19 million in the first three months from P866.79 million in the same period last year, it said in a disclosure to the stock exchange on Wednesday.

This translated to a return on average assets of 1.32% and a return on average equity of 10.74%.

“BankCom’s strong first-quarter 2026 result was propelled by sustained revenue expansion across its key business segments, driven by higher net interest income, foreign exchange gains, as well as solid contributions from ROPA (real and other properties acquired)-related revenues,” it said.

Net interest income rose by 19.76% year on year to P2.98 billion from P2.49 billion.

“The increase was driven by the expansion of interest earning assets, primarily from higher average daily levels of loans and receivables,” BankCom said.

“The higher growth in revenues from interest-earning assets than cost of interest-bearing liabilities translated to a net interest margin of 4.41%.”

This was up from 4.24% in the prior year.

Other income went down by 39% to P304.51 million, mainly due to trading losses due to the Middle East conflict.

“This was partly offset by ROPA sales related gains of P164.88 million, which increased 14% year on year, as well as growth in client-related FX (foreign exchange) transactions,” the bank said.

Total operating income rose by 9.8% to P3.29 billion from P2.99 billion.

Meanwhile, operating expenses increased by 5.44% to P1.96 billion. “The increase reflects BankCom’s continued strategic investments in human capital, branch lites, and technology, alongside higher transaction volumes to support the bank’s expanding operations.”

This translated to a cost-to-income ratio of 60%.

Total loans stood at P162.81 billion as of March, inching down from P162.82 billion at end-2025.

Its gross nonperforming loan (NPL) ratio was at 1.21% while net NPL was at 0.56%, both improving from 1.33% and 0.62%, respectively, at the end of 2025.

On the funding side, total deposits rose by 8.31% to P241.88 billion at end-March from P223.31 billion in 2025. Of this, P224.67 billion were current account and savings account or CASA deposits and P17.22 billion were time deposits.

As a result, the bank recorded a loan-to-deposit ratio of 77%.

BankCom’s assets stood at P306.11 billion as of March, up by 6.71% from P286.85 billion as of end-December.

Meanwhile, total equity was at P36.13 billion, inching down by 1.21% from P36.58 billion.

Capital adequacy ratio was at 16.06%, well above the regulatory minimum of 10%.

BankCom shares rose by 20 centavos or 1.85% to close at P11 each on Wednesday. — Aaron Michael C. Sy

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