Equitable PCI Bank eyes 2nd spot overall

The country’s fourth largest commercial bank in terms of assets would like to be the second largest by the end of the year.

That is after the Equitable PCI Bank aggressively re-introduces its full banking services after a year of regaining lost ground due to a largest bank run caused by links with the deposed Estrada administration.

"The year 2001 was a year of recovery. Now, 2002 is a year of serving the full range of banking services in a bid not only to regain lost ground but to become a strong number two in the country’s banking system," said newly-installed bank president and chief executive officer Rene J. Buenaventura.

Last week, Buenaventura was named president and chief executive officer following the sudden resignation of erstwhile chief executive Deogracias N. Vistan. Industry sources said the Vistan resigned due to alleged professional differences with the Go family, majority shareholders of the banks.

Buenaventura becomes the bank’s third president and CEO in a span of just 10 months ago after erstwhile chief Wilfredo V. Vergara resigned the position along with several senior executives including the chairman George Go. The latter was implicated in a plunder case filed versus former President Joseph Estrada.

Weeks after Vergara’s resignation, Vistan was appointed by the bank’s board of directors. Today, he remains with the Equitable PCI Banks in an adviser after last week’s controversy.

Aside from regaining lost ground locally, Equitable PCI Bank wants to be a strong regional players among Philippine banks by expanding its branch network not only in the Asian region but also in areas where there is a significant Filipino population.

"We will establish more remittance centers instead of just branches. We will be opening more of the two in the United States, the Middle East, and the Asian region," the new bank president said, adding that remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) account for roughly 15 percent of their earnings. That puts them second only to the Philippine National Bank (PNB) in terms of OFW remittances.

In Hong Kong alone, Equitable PCI Bank has four branches.

The bank will also dispose of the branch network of its two subsidiaries, the Mindanao Development Bank (MDB), the Ecology Bank, and if necessary, some of the branches of Equitable Savings Bank.

Other steps it will take to pick up from where it was in 2001 are enhance corporate loans, leasing, cash management, investment banking, and credit cards.

Equitable PCI Bank is scouting the market for a large life insurance to forge a bancassurance strategy.

Bancassurance is an alliance between a bank and a life insurance company, which allows the insurer access to its client base. In turn, the bank can use insurance products as part of its consumer banking products.

"We are talking to five life insurance companies, "Buenaventura revealed.

The bank is aiming for a 320-percent growth in net earnings this year from P119 million in 2001 to P500 million this year.

The bank president claims that its client base has returned after joining the 2001 bank run. To save the bank, it borrowed a P30-billion emergency loan from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC). The amount had since been repaid in several tranches.

"From a period of recovery last year, it will be business as usual this year to becoming a regional player in five years," Buenaventura said. – Ted Torres