The Monetary Board, the policy-making body of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, approved the planned merger of the Bank of the Philippine Islands and subsidiary BPI Family Savings Bank, with the former as the surviving entity.
BPI said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Wednesday the Monetary Board relayed the approval on the merger on Sept. 30, 2021.
The merger was approved by BPI’s board of directors on Jan. 20, 2021 and by stockholders on April 22, 2021. It also received the greenlight from Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. on July 6, 2021, subject to conditions.
BPI said the next steps would include the regulatory filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Philippine Stock Exchange.
The merger would create considerable value to the customers, employees and shareholders of the two entities, according to BPI.
The customers of the combined BPI and BPI Family Savings Bank will have access to all the products, via all the digital and physical channels, of both entities.
The employees of the merged entity will also have the ability to work across a larger, more varied bank network while potential synergies will create shareholder value. BPI Family Savings Bank is 100-percent owned by BPI.
The merger will become effective upon the issuance of the SEC of the certificate of merger or by Jan. 1, 2022, the bank said.
After the effective date, all rights, privileges, immunities, franchises and powers of BPI Family will be deemed transferred to and possessed by BPI. All assets, properties, liabilities and obligations of BPI Family will also be transferred to BPI.
BPI said the procedure for determining the number of BPI shares that would be issued pursuant to the merger would be determined using the net asset value of BPI Family Savings Bank as of Dec. 31, 2020 as reflected in the audited financial statements and BPI’s share price as of Dec. 29, 2020.
The investment in the subsidiary account will be cancelled, and treasury will be recognized for the newly-issued BPI common shares.
BPI, the third-largest lender in terms of assets, posted a net income of P11.8 billion in the first half, up 1.2 percent from a year ago despite the 6.7-percent decline in revenues to P48.1 billion.