Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., the ninth-largest lender in terms of assets, said it expects to sustain the growth of its consumer lending business by double-digit by yearend following the merger with thrift bank unit RCBC Savings Bank.
RCBC consumer lending head Rommel Latinazo said in a news briefing in Makati City Thursday that consumers loans grew by 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.
He said RCBC saw a lot of opportunities after the merger. RCBC currently has 486 branches spread nationwide.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas approved in June 2019 the consolidation of RCBC Savings Bank into RCBC, a move that is seen to improve the latter’s financing and operational cost efficiencies.
RCBC obtained the BSP approval on June 17, 2019. RCBC Savings Bank is a thrift bank that is fully owned by RCBC.
RCBC is one of the leading banks in the country that offers a wide range of banking and financial products and services. RCBC’s net income jumped 23 percent in the first half to P2.7 billion from P2.2 billion a year ago on the sustained strength of core businesses.
The bank said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the strong growth in net income resulted from sustained efforts in strengthening the bank’s core business with double-digit growth in net interest income by 10 percent and fee-based income by 23 percent.
RCBC president and chief executive Eugene Acevedo said the first-half performance was a testament of how RCBC had re-established its presence and became stronger through the years.