Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., the ninth-largest lender in terms of assets, plans to raise at least P3 billion through the issuance of three-year fixed-rate peso bonds that started Monday.
The bank said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the issuance was the third drawdown off its P100-billion bond and commercial paper program. The bonds are offered at a fixed interest rate of 4.426 percent per annum.
“… The target size is a minimum of P3 billion. The public offering will commence on Oct. 28, 2019 and will run until Nov. 6, 2019. The bonds are set to be listed on the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. on Nov. 13, 2019,” it said.
RCBC tapped Standard Chartered Bank as the sole arranger and book runner of the transaction.
RCBC first tapped the local bond market with its P15 billion Asean Green Bond issuance in February this year and followed that up witt its P8-billion Asean Sustainability Bonds in June 2019.
The bank’s board of directors on July 29, 2019, approved an increase of the program to P100 billion from the initial size of P30 billion. The increase is part of the bank’s strategic liquidity management, which will extend the duration of its liabilities and further strengthen its regulatory liquidity ratios.
RCBC is one of the leading banks in the country that offers a wide range of financial products and services. It is a member of the Yuchengco Group of Companies, one of the oldest and largest conglomerates in Southeast Asia.
Earlier, bank officials said RCBC was expecting to sustain the growth of its consumer lending business by double digit by yearend, on the back of the strengthened performance after the bank merged with its thrift bank unit RCBC Savings Bank middle of 2019.
RCBC Consumer Lending head Rommel Latinazo said in a briefing in Makati City that the consumer lending grew 14 percent in 2018.
“We at least have to sustain the 2018 numbers. We don’t want to grow slower than that,” Latinazo said.
“The merger took effect July 2019. After that, our consumer lending remained intact. It is now the major business group of the bank,” Latinazo said.
“Consumer lending and SME lending will be our main pillars of growth going forward. We will continue our expansion plans and introduction of new products in auto, home, personal and salary loans,” Latinazo said.