MANILA, Philippines — The Ayala Group is merging the 169-year old Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and its thrift bank subsidiary BPI Family Savings Banks, resulting in an 8.5 million client base for the merged entity.
The listed bank’s board of directors yesterday approved the merger of the country’s fourth largest universal bank and biggest thrift bank. The merger is expected to be completed within the year.
Cezar Consing, president and chief executive officer of BPI and chairman of BPI Family Savings Bank, said the merger, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals, has the best interests of our customers and employees in mind.
“As One BPI, our 8.5 million customers will be able to enjoy the full suite of the BPI group’s products, via all our digital and physical channels. Similarly, as One BPI, our employees will have the ability to work across a larger, more varied bank, while having continuity of tenure and job level,” Consing said.
BPI said the merger would prime the listed bank to seize emerging opportunities and ultimately enhance the overall banking experience of customers.
“The integration of both entities will provide considerable advantages to the customers and employees of BPI and BPI Family Savings Bank, and present potential synergies that will benefit shareholders,” the bank said.
It also said the reduction in the gap in regulatory reserve requirements between commercial banks and thrift banks was also a factor in the timing of the transaction.
“If our customers and employees are better off, our shareholders will also benefit. This merger is timed to provide us with the platform to help lead the economic recovery that is sure to come,” Consing said.
BPI is the country’s fourth largest universal bank in terms of assets with P1.88 trillion as of end- September last year. It ranked fourth in terms of deposits with P1.42 trillion and second in terms of loan book with P1.17 trillion.
On the other hand, BPI Family Savings Bank is the country’s largest thrift bank with P305.57 billion in assets, P254.18 billion in deposits and P219.55 billion in loans as of end- September last year.
The thrift bank arm has focused on providing housing and auto loans to Filipino families, and is a market leader in these loan segments. It has approximately 3,000 employees.
Other big banks that consolidated their banking interests earlier include Yuchengco-led Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) and Philippine National Bank of tobacco and airline magnate Lucio Tan.