China Bank raises P9.6-B via LTNCD

MANILA, Philippines - China Banking Corp. successfully raised close to P9.6 billion through the issuance of long-term negotiable certificates of time deposits (LTNCD) to support its strategic initiatives and business expansion.

This is the first tranche of a P20 billion fund raising activity that involves the issuance of LTNCDs with a maturity of five years and six months. This also marked the return of China Bank to the peso debt market after its LTNCD transaction in 2008.

LTNCDs are time deposits that have longer maturity and are higher yielding than regular deposits. These instruments are negotiable and insured with the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) up to a maximum coverage which is currently at P500,000 per depositor.

The new issuance is expected to expand the China Bank’s long-term deposit base and boost its long-term asset growth.

China Bank chairman of the board Hans Sy as well as president and CEO Ricardo Chua attended the listing ceremony at the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. (PDEx) platform last Nov. 18.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ), The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. (HSBC), and Standard Chartered Bank acted as joint lead arranger, joint bookrunner and selling agents for the transaction.

China Bank, China Bank Capital Corp. and Multinational Investment Bancorporation served as selling agents for the offering.

Earnings of China Bank jumped 31 percent to P4.84 billion in the first nine months as the bank’s core business drivers continued to show robust growth.

“These positive results indicate that we are on track to meet our business goals for this year, especially with the turnaround of our China Bank Savings subsidiary into a significant contributor to group profitability,” Chua earlier said.

China Bank offers a wide range of financial products and services through 526 branches including the 160 branches of China Bank Savings nationwide.