BankCom to tap bond market anew

MANILA, Philippines — San Miguel-led Bank of Commerce (BankCom) is looking to tap the domestic bond market again later this year as it prepares to fund future growth while maintaining a cautious lending stance amid elevated interest rates and geopolitical uncertainty.

During an investment conference, BankCom chief financial officer Antonio Laquindanum said another bond issuance is planned for the second half after the lender raised P18 billion through its largest-ever bond offering in 2025.

“We plan to have another bond issuance later this year. We believe these transactions have strengthened our funding profile, diversified our liabilities and enhanced our ability to support future growth initiatives with the bank,” Laquindanum said.

The planned fund-raising comes as BankCom targets some loan growth by year-end despite weaker borrower appetite caused by high borrowing costs.

Laquindanum said the bank has deliberately slowed lending rather than compromise pricing, with profitability and returns taking priority over balance sheet expansion.

“We still aim to try to achieve some growth over our loan balance at the end of last year. But at the same time, given our size, it’s a more important priority for us to maintain our margins and our return on equity,” he said.

BankCom’s loan book and investment portfolio contracted slightly in the first half as the lender increased liquidity buffers amid volatility linked to tensions in the Middle East. The cautious stance, however, helped lift its net interest margin (NIM) to a record 4.68 percent from 4.35 percent at end-2025.

While funding costs and changing interest rate conditions could put pressure on margins in the second half, the bank expects its full-year NIM to remain above last year’s level.

BankCom is also banking on deeper penetration of the San Miguel Corp. ecosystem to drive medium-term growth.

As of June, the lender had onboarded more than 3,500 ecosystem accounts, equivalent to nearly 60 percent of an expanded target market of around 6,000 potential clients. Its previous target market was about 4,000 clients before the bank identified additional prospects through improved data analysis.

The bank plans to convert more of these accounts into borrowers and users of other products, including cash management, payroll and trade facilities.

BankCom is likewise prioritizing branch-lite units to broaden its network at a lower cost. These smaller outlets will primarily target areas with SMC ecosystem clients that are outside the bank’s existing footprint and may eventually be upgraded into full-service branches as demand grows.

For the first half, BankCom saw its net income rise by 13 percent to P2.11 billion from P1.86 billion in the same period a year ago. Its return on equity reached a record 11.56 percent.