The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd., the largest lender in Japan, said Tuesday the Philippine market will play a vital role to achieve its goal of becoming the top-tiered bank in Asia by 2020.
Go Watanabe, the bank’s managing executive officer and chief executive for Asia and Oceania, said in a news briefing in Makati City the Philippines was a very important market for BTMU. He said the Philippines was the missing part of the bank’s regional expansion, and this was the reason why it acquired a 20-percent stake in Security Bank Corp. in January.
“Our aspiration is to become the top-tiered bank in the region by 2020 and the Philippine market will play a vital role to achieve that goal,” Watanabe said. “We will try to catch up with HSBC, Citibank and Standard Chartered by 2020,” he said.
Watanabe said the Philippines offered a lot of opportunities, given its robust economic growth which was one of the fastest in the region and its population of more than a hundred million.
“The Philippine GDP [gross domestic product] has been growing and based on an organic growth, we see much contribution from the Philippine market to BTMU in the region,” he said.
He said BTMU and Security Bank were willing to participate in the country’s public-private partnership projects through financing, most especially on infrastructure, the lack of which hindered the country’s attainment of full potential.
Watanabe said after its investment in Security Bank, BTMU would expand to India and Indonesia, but he did not give the timetable for the plan. “Maybe one year later, three or 10 years later,” he said.
BTMU acquired 20 percent of Security Bank for P36.9 billion ($782 million), making it the largest investment so far by a foreign financial institution in the Philippines.
Under the strategic partnership agreement, BTMU acquired newly-issued primary shares of Security Bank consisting of 150,707,778 common shares at P245 per share and 200,000,000 preferred shares at P0.10 apiece, or for a total investment of P36.9 billion.
The additional capital infusion from BTMU would be largely allocated to pursue Security Bank’s growth strategies.
Watanabe said BTMU regarded Japan as its core market, but the Asean region was also emerging as a core market.
Watanabe said BTMU was comfortable with a 20-percent stake in Security Bank, but if opportunities arose in the future which would be beneficial to both sides, BTMU would be willing to increase its stake in the Philippine bank.
BTMU, a member of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., is Japan’s premier bank, with a global network spanning more than 40 countries.
BTMU’s parent, MUFG, is one of the world’s leading financial groups with total assets of 286 trillion Japanese yen or $2.4 trillion as of March 31, 2015. Other companies in the group include BTMU, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp.