Security Bank holds no-deal roadshow

MANILA, Philippines - Security Bank went on a non-deal roadshow in the US last week to build a rapport with investors.

The roadshow began in San Francisco early last week and continued through the US midwest and was concluded in New York.

Security Bank vice chairman Eduaro Olbes, who serves as head of wholesale and corporate banking led the roadshow.

Mark Decker, founder and CEO of institutional equities broker Decker & Co., said some global investors were interested in the country’s fundamentals and even willing to go past the political noise.

“Institutional investors at global investment funds are interested in high-quality opportunities. While the Philippines is currently experiencing outflows, forward-looking investors are seeing past politics to opportunities created by the growing middle class,” Decker said.

“Security Bank’s size relative to the country’s largest banks is viewed as a positive, given fewer branches to manage in a digital age,” he added.

Security Bank is the country’s fifth-largest bank. Its track record includes a 25 percent compound annual growth rate in loans over the last five years.

Earnings rose nine percent in the first nine months of the year to P6.6 billion as income from core businesses continued to offset the decline in trading gains.

In the third quarter alone, the bank’s net earnings grew 26 percent to P1.8 billion, driven by a 27 percent increase in net interest income.

The bank is jointly owned by the family of businessman Frederick Dy and the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd.