Robinsons Bank mulls public sale

MANILA, Philippines - Robinsons Bank Corp., the banking arm of JG Summit Holdings Inc. is looking to go public in the next three years, a company official said.

On the sidelines of the listing of the bank’s Long-Term Negotiable Certificates of Time Deposit (LTNCTD) Friday, Robinsons Bank director Omar Byron Mier told reporters that the bank was considering going public to grow its capital base.

“I think somewhere down the line we have to grow our capital base to about P15 billion in the next three to four years,” Mier said.

Mier said the bank’s capital base now amounts to P12 billion.

Robinsons Bank listed its P4.18 billion LTNCTDs due 2022 on the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Friday.

Mier said it is critical for the company to tap the debt market now as interest rates are starting to move up.

“For the moment, what we want to do is make use of our liquidity because our capital adequacy ratio is quite high,” Mier said.

“We expect interest rates to start going up. So we’ll observe the capital market,” he added.

Mier said the bank remains open to acquisitions to strengthen its position in the industry.

“Yes,  there’s a good opportunity, the cost is reasonable and it will really be a good choice,” Mier said.

“Right now, we’ll just grow organically,  strengthen further  our balance sheet,” Mier said.

Robinsons Bank is one of the fastest growing commercial banks in the Philippines.

Its net income surged 72 percent last year.  Robinsons Bank is now ranked as the 20th largest bank in asset size and 19th in loans and in deposit.