PBCom seeks unibank license

MANILA, Philippines — Lucio Co’s Philippine Bank of Communications (PBCom) is seeking the approval of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to convert its current commercial banking license into a universal banking license.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), PBCom said the listed bank has submitted an application to upgrade its existing license to a universal bank classification with the BSP last Dec. 7.

“This is to inform the exchange that PBCom submitted to the BSP its letter dated Dec. 7, 2021, for the application to upgrade its commercial banking license to a universal banking license, subject to regulatory approvals,” PBCom corporate secretary Michael Stephen Lao said.

In August 2014, PBCom signed a subscription agreement with Co’s P.G. Holdings lnc. for the subscription of 181,08 million  common shares valued  out of the unissued portion of the bank’s authorized capital stock of  P33 per share.

The subscription by PGH to the new shares of the parent company amounting to P5.98 billion was approved by the BSP on Sept.  23, 2014.  Subsequently in September 2014, VFC Land Resources lnc. acquired 59.24 million shares at P33 per share from the ISM Group in September 2014. The Co family owns PGH and VFC, bringing the family’s total stake in PBCom to 49.99 percent.

The Co family through PGH and VFC bought additional shares in 2015, 2018, and 2021. As of September this year, the Co family owns 54.07 percent of PBCom.

PBCom is the country’s 19th largest bank in terms of assets with P104.36 billion as of end-June and ranked 18th in terms of capital with P14.73 billion.

PBCom has a total network of 90 regular branches, four branch-lite units, and 161 ATMs.