MANILA, Philippines — The Ayala Group expects the consolidation of their banking units Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) and BPI Family Savings Bank (BFSB) to be completed by the end of next year.
BPI president and CEO Jose Teodoro “TG” Limcaoco said the merger between the two entities is set to take effect on Jan. 1 next year and completed in end 2022.
“One BPI is about banking for the future, to enable us to lead the economic turnaround, towards a better and sustainable Philippines,” Limcaoco said.
The country’s fourth largest lender in terms of assets said post-merger activities would start in the first quarter of next year and would be completed by the end of 2022.
“To reiterate, we initiated and pushed for this merger with the best interests of our customers and employees in mind. One BPI is about changing the way we think and act as one of the country’s trusted financial partners. More importantly, One BPI is about changing the way we serve our customers relevant to the times,” Limcaoco said.
The consolidation enables BPI to seize and optimize opportunities, as well as enhance the overall banking experience of its customers.
As one BPI, customers would have access to the full suite of the BPI group’s products and services, via its digital and physical channels.
BPI is the country’s fourth largest universal bank in terms of assets with P1.89 trillion and deposits, with P144 trillion as of end-June. It ranked third in terms of stockholders’ equity with P284.19 billion.
On the other hand, BFSB is the country’s largest thrift bank in terms of assets, with P294.52 billion, capital with P33.82 billion, deposits with P240.41 billion, and loans, with P227.51 billion as of end-June.
Last Dec. 21, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gave BPI the go-signal to hike its authorized capital.
Under the approved structure, the capital stock of the 170-year-old bank is now at P50.6 billion, consisting of five billion shares with a par value of P10 per share, as well as 60 million preferred ‘A’ shares at P10 per share.
The changes to the bank’s articles of incorporation and increase in authorized capital were approved by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) last June 8.
The central bank’s Monetary Board gave the green light to the planned merger and consolidation of the banking units of the Ayala Group last Sept. 30.
The proposed merger aims to unlock the value resulting from enhanced synergy and scale.
It would allow the BPI Group to harmonize the products and services offering, deliver holistic solutions and elevate the customer experience of both banks.
With the accelerated shift towards digitalization, the consolidation would enable rationalization of the BPI Group’s branch network, streamlining of operations, increased manpower productivity and improved capital efficiency.
The BPI Group expects to realize savings on operating expenses given the consolidation of branch locations and marketing support, reduction in tax leakages from inter-company services, and streamlining of compliance and reportorial requirements.
It would be able to sell all the products across all the branches.