BPI, the country's second-largest lender after Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (MBT.PH), said net profit rose to PHP2.04 billion in the three months ended Sept. 30 from PHP1.78 billion a year earlier.

Loss provisions for the third quarter - including those at Prudential Bank - totaled PHP1.1 billion, PHP780 million higher than in the previous year. BPI alone provided PHP402.3 million for bad loans in the third quarter.

BPI's nine-month net profit rose 20% on year to PHP6.3 billion. This translates to a return on equity of 15.4%, up from 13.2% from year ago, and return on assets of 1.9%, up from 1.8%.

The bank's provisions for probable losses for the first nine months totaled PHP2.1 billion, up from PHP900 million last year. The PHP1.2 billion additonal provision was due to the PHP630 million provisions set aside for Prudential Bank while the rest was due to provisions for possible profit risk relating to changes in accounting standards.

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