Top lender BDO Unibank Inc., the financial services arm of the SM Group, will remain cautious yet still be aggressive in 2024 even as earnings are trending towards beating last year’s record performance.

In a press briefing before the bank’s annual stockholders’ meeting, BDO President and CEO Nestor V. Tan said that he prefers to take the bank’s performance “one quarter at a time” but “it looks like it’s trending in that direction (beating last year’s record profit based on first quarter 2024 results).”

He explained that while they remain cautious because of geopolitical risks, “being cautious does not mean you pull back. Being cautious means that you just have to manage the consequences and prepare for it.”

“So, basically, if we have outperformed (in 2023), it’s because we’re cautious, and we’ve looked at the eventualities, and we adjusted our strategy or actions to take advantage of it,” said Tan.

In terms of being aggressive, he noted that the bank will still be aggressive in going after good credits but not “when you say aggressive which is going down the risk spectrum.”

“If you look at what we’re doing, we’re not sacrificing quality. We’re just reaching out to more. So, when you reach out to a bigger market, to a bigger geographic reach, you tend to get more good credits. So we’re aggressive in terms of going after good credits but not aggressive in the sense of going down the risk chain and sacrificing quality,” Tan said.

For capital expenditures, he said that while he does not have the figure for BDO’s budget this year, the bulk will be allocated for information technology and branch expansion.

“We’re looking at about 100 to 120 new branches across the whole group. Which means BDO Network Bank and main bank. Our technology expansion will continue ith the current rate that we have,” he said.

Meanwhile, the BDO Board of Directors approved an increase in the regular cash dividends on common shares of BDO to P1.00 per share per quarter beginning on the second quarter of 2024. This will be the new dividend policy of BDO going forward.

It also approved the declaration as property dividends the Treasury shares arising from the eventual merger of BDO and SM Keppel Land Inc., with BDO as the surviving entity.

The merger, which is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals, will result in the creation of Treasury shares equivalent to approximately one percent of current outstanding shares.