East West Banking Corp., the banking unit of the Gotianun Group, plans to raise up to P10 billion through a stock rights offering sometime in the second half of the year.
EastWest chairman Jonathan Gotianun said the group was also looking for a strategic partner that could take up to 20 percent of the bank’s equity to help accelerate the bank’s growth.
The bank last year obtained shareholders’ approval to increase the capital base to P50 billion to accommodate both deals.
“What is clear is we want to grow the bank, I think we will look for equity,” Gotianun said, adding there were no specific discussions at the moment.
Meanwhile, EastWest plans to conduct the rights offering to finance asset expansion.
“We need to grow out assets and in order to have to have sufficient capital to go in line with it,” Gotianun said.
He said EastWest parent company Filinvest Development Corp. would participate in the bank’s stock rights offering.
“Our main focus is try to grow our base by improving our customer service and by improving our productivity,” Gotianun said.
“Over the years, we have added branches and we think we have already reached a decent size and decent coverage since we are now is key cities across the country,” he said.
EastWest, like other banks, is revisiting its digital strategy moving forward. The bank 447 branches across the country.
“We are also also focusing on our digital strategy. It is going to be a big challenge but we think it is necessary,” Gotianun said.
EastWest in 2017 registered a net income of P5.1 billion, up 48 percent from P3.4 billion in 2016. Net revenues reached P25.6 billion, 17 percent higher from a year ago.
Core earnings that exclude trading and non-recurring revenues reached P24.2 billion, up 21 percent, as net interest income and fee-based income rose 19.8 percent and 29.2 percent, respectively. Jenniffer B. Austria
The bank’s net interest margin stood at 7.8 percent, the highest in the banking industry, mainly because of its consumer lending businesses.