PBCom gets universal bank license

MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has awarded a universal banking license to  Lucio Co’s Philippine Bank of Communications (PBCom).

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), PBCom said it has received its certificate of authority to operate as a universal bank from BSP Governor Felipe Medalla.

PBCom still has to inform the BSP accordingly of its official start date.

Last December, PBCom submitted an application to upgrade its existing commercial bank license to a universal bank classification with the BSP.

As of end-June, PBCom was ranked 18th in terms of assets with P118.5 billion and 16th in terms of capitalization with P15.92 billion.

In August 2014, PBCom signed a subscription agreement with Co’s P.G. Holdings lnc. for the subscription of 181.08 million  common shares  that were issued out of the unissued portion of the bank’s authorized capital stock at 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.

The Co family owns both PGH and VFC, bringing their 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 now owns 54.07 percent of PBCom.

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