SOLID loan growth, improving margin trend, healthy trading income alongside well-managed cost growth boosted the net earnings of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (Metrobank) in the first nine months of 2025.
A statement issued by the lender last Tuesday read that Metrobank’s net earnings reached P37.3 billion in the first nine months of the year.
The bank’s pre-provision operating profit also rose 12.1 percent year-on-year to P59.2 billion in the nine-month period.
According to the bank, its net interest income reached P91.8 billion in the first nine months of the year due to ‘broad-based gains’ across business segments and ‘sustained’ quarterly margin improvement.
The bank’s gross loans expanded by 10.8 percent year-on-year to P1.9 trillion, with consumer loans growing by 15.8 percent. Institutional loans likewise rose by 9.5 percent.
Meanwhile, total deposits amounted to P2.5 trillion, up 7.6 percent year-on-year, of which P1.5 trillion are low-cost current and savings accounts (CASA).
Non-interest income grew 5.3 percent to P25.4 billion during the first nine months, propelled by ‘steady growth’ in service fees and trust income.
Trading and foreign exchange gains surged by 18 percent to P6.6 billion, driven by ‘continued growth in customer flows and effective management of the investment securities portfolio.’
Metrobank said operating cost growth was ‘well contained,’ rising by just 1.7 percent year-on-year.
Consequently, cost-to-income ratio fell to 49.8 percent in the first nine months this year from 52.2 percent in the same period in 2024.
Asset quality continued to ‘fare better’ than industry, with non-performing loans’ (NPL) ratio coming in at 1.7 percent, far lower than the industry’s reported 3.6 percent NPL ratio as of August 2025.
‘Year to date provisions stood at P8.7 billion, maintaining high NPL cover of 147.4 percent, a hefty buffer against rising uncertainties,’ Metrobank noted.
The country’s fourth-largest lender said its total consolidated assets increased by 8.9 percent to P3.6 trillion, maintaining its position as the second largest private universal bank in the country.
Moreover, total equity climbed by 7.2 percent to P407.6 billion.