RETAIL and property tycoon Henry Sy’s Banco de Oro Unibank (BDO) grew bigger in the third quarter, stretching its lead in terms of assets over key rivals Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) and Bank of the Philippines Islands (BPI).

The combined assets of the country’s three biggest lenders, however, contracted by 1.2 percent to P2.23 trillion as of end-September from P2.26 trillion at the end of June, based on their latest statements of condition.

Both BDO and Metrobank managed to increase their total resources, while BPI’s asset base contracted by nearly P55 billion from end-June.

BDO remained the biggest bank in terms of assets, net loans and receivables, deposit liabilities and trust accounts.

Its asset base expanded by P15.1 billion, or nearly 2 percent, from the previous quarter to P808.54 billion as of end-September.

BDO’s net loans and receivables increased by P5.7 billion, or 1.2 percent, to P461.2 billion.

Its deposit liabilities reached P642.1 billion at the end of September, representing a growth of nearly P17 billion, or 2.7 percent, from end-June.

BDO also increased its trust accounts—those client funds held in trust and invested in equity or debt securities or other instruments—by P29 billion, or 7 percent, from the previous quarter to P444.03 billion as of end-September.

The bank’s nonperforming-loans (NPL) ratio was almost unchanged, at 3.40 percent as of end-September against 3.41 percent three months before.

Metrobank remained the second- biggest in assets and net loans and receivables, and had also become No. 2 in deposit liabilities, dislodging BPI which dropped to No. 3.

Its asset base expanded by P13.3 billion, or 1.7 percent, to P780.98 billion from end-June.

The bank’s net loans and receivables, however, dropped by P17.3 billion, or 4.3 percent, to P382.8 billion.

Its deposit liabilities increased by P11.8 billion, or 2.1 percent, to P567.5 billion.

The bank has the third-biggest trust-account portfolio, which grew by nearly 8 billion or 3.9 percent to P209.7 billion.

Metrobank’s NPL ratio improved to 2.58 percent from 3.23 percent as of end-June.

Ayala-led BPI was expected to remain the third-biggest in terms of resources and net loans and receivables, but its asset base contracted by P54.9 billion, or almost 8 percent, to P641.1 billion.

Its net loans and receivables dropped by P44.6 billion, or 12.1 percent, to P322.61 billion.

The bank’s deposit liabilities also dropped, by P50.6 billion or 8.9 percent to P516.5 billion.

But BPI’s trust-account portfolio grew by a hefty P71.6 billion, or almost 20 percent, to P438.8 billion.

Its NPL ratio rose to 3.22 percent from the end-June level of 2.65 percent.