New chief, new directions at PBCom

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Bank of Communications (PBCom) is seeking to enter into domestic and regional strategic alliances as it prepares to expand organically, through acquisition or joint venture arrangements.

PBCom president and chief executive officer Nina D. Aguas said her mission is to bring the once troubled local bank into the next level.

“The bank has had its share of rough sailing, but with the new board of directors, PBCom has the opportunity to go to the next level,” Aguas said. 

PBCom is presently implementing a transformation strategy with a clear number of targets. 

The newly-installed bank chief executive revealed that the bank is presently in exploratory talks with several domestic and regional players for possible strategic alliances. 

The immediate target is to implement the transformation strategy, which calls for, among others, re-branding of its branches. In fact, the “new” main branch along Ayala Ave. was already “re-launched” last Friday. 

The complete re-branding of PBCom’s branch network, numbering 63, would be completed by next year. 

Aguas said the bank is investing heavily on information technology, and it will make the bank more accessible with the help of improving its automated teller machine (ATM) network, as well as introducing mobile and Internet banking and other forms of alternative channels of distribution. 

The bank is recognized for having a strong corporate banking platform and is a leader in businesses with the country’s influential Filipino-Chinese community.

Thus, the bank will leverage on looking at all opportunities in tapping its rich resources. 

Nevertheless, the growth and challenge area would be in the consumer or retail market. 

“We will go back to the basics in terms of retail banking. After all, we have identified our market,” Aguas, a former Citibank official, said. 

While solidifying its hold in its target market domestically, PBCom will leverage on the depth and breadth of its customer base. 

The Filipino-Chinese community opens opportunities from basic retail banking to complex banking as private and regional banking. 

There are banking opportunities from inter-banking activities from relatives and business clients between the Philippines and the rest of the Asia Pacific region. 

There are opportunities in electronic money transfers in both the personal and business remittances.

That leads to forming alliances with regional players and other Asian financial institutions. 

At the start of 2012, PBCom’s authorized capital base stood at P27 billion. Net profits amounted to P796 million in 2011, or 36 percent better than 2010.

In the same year, assets stood at P45.45 billion, a capital base worth P6.78 billion, deposit base reaching P27.8 billion, and a loan portfolio of P9.5 billion. 

The bank’s leading stakeholder is British fund Ashmore, which specializes in investing in emerging markets. It holds the controlling stake in San Miguel Corp., but is also invested in real estate development (Alphaland Corp.), mining and oil exploration (Atok-Big Wedge Co. Inc.), information technology and gaming (Philweb Corp.) and oil refinery (Petron Corp.).