BankCom raises P 6.57B for refinancing debt

Bank of Commerce (BankCom), the banking affiliate of conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC), has raised P6.57 billion from its peso bond offering that will help refinance its maturing debts.

BankCom on Friday said its offer was 1.3 times oversubscribed due to strong demand from institutional and retail investors, as it initially sought to raise P5 billion.

The Series B bonds represented the second tranche of the bank’s P20-billion bonds program.

These will have a tenor of one and a half years with a fixed interest rate of 6.5635 percent per annum, and will be listed on the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. on May 16.

BankCom, the lending arm of billionaire Ramon S. Ang’s SMC, launched its first bond program in 2022 and raised P3 billion in the first tranche.

Record profit

ING Bank NV, Manila Branch and Philippine Commercial Capital Inc. (PCCI) were appointed as joint lead arrangers and joint bookrunners. BankCom acted as a selling agent, along with ING and PCCI.

BankCom booked record profits last year as the core lending business grew.

Earnings surged by 56 percent to P2.8 billion, while net interest income soared by a quarter to P1.61 billion.

This resulted in a return on equity of 9.52 percent from 7.01 percent the previous year.

Other income, composed of service charges, fees and commissions from investment banking, went up by 17 percent to P1.68 billion.

Improving asset quality caused nonperforming loans ratio to ease to 0.44 percent from 0.6 percent in 2022.

NPLs refer to loans that are unlikely to be repaid by the borrower, meaning a lower ratio represents lower risks for the bank.

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Corporate clients

Total loans and receivables reached P109.57 billion, up by 4 percent, mostly due to corporate clients.

By the end of the year, BankCom’s total assets expanded by 7 percent to P231.67 billion.

BankCom in August launched SikapPinoy Asenso, its one-stop shop platform for remittance, savings and investments for Filipinos in Japan.

Launched in partnership with Speed Money Transfer Japan, the platform provides cash remittances for Filipinos at home for pickup at BankCom branches or any of the bank’s 16,000 agent partners in the country.

Funds can me remitted directly to other bank accounts and select e-wallet services.

The platform also allows overseas Filipino workers and their families access to more than 200 local franchising options through BankCom partner U-Franchise.