The planned merger between the Gokongwei's Robinson's Bank and the Ayala's Bank of the Philippine Islands – the oldest bank in the country and the first bank to be established in Southeast Asia – was confirmed last Friday, 30 September 2022.

Both banks released similarly-worded statements saying that the board of directors of BPI, RBank, Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc. and JG Summit Capital Services Corp. had given their nod to the merger, with "BPI emerging as the surviving entity."

In their statements, BPI and RBank said, "Upon the effectivity of the merger, after receipt of all necessary corporate and regulatory approvals, including the approvals of the Philippine Competition Commission, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Philippine Deposit Insurance Cororation, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, the RBank shareholders will collectively hold approximately 6% of the resulting outstanding capital stock of BPI."

Both banks said they plan to complete the process before the end of 2023.

An apparently elated Robina Gokongwei-Pe said she looked forward to the market synergy to come out from the merger of both banks.

"We believe this merger between BPI and Robinsons Bank will bring the coming together of Robinson's Bank's innovativeness, the scale and breadth of BPI and the retail and commercial ecosystem of both Gokongwei and Ayala groups, said Gokongwei-Pe who is president and CEO of Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc. (RRHI).

RRHI owns 40 percent of RBank with the remaining 60 percent owned by parent company, JG Summit. After the merger is completed, the two entities will hold six percent of BPI.

JG Summit president, Lance Gokongwei agreed that the merger of RBank and BPI would "leverage on the ecosystems of both Gokongwei and Ayala groups.

For its part, BPI said the merger will enable "BPI to unlock various synergies across several products and service platforms, and expand the customer and deposit base of both banks."

The merger will give BPI access to digital bank GoTyme led by Singapore-based digital banking group Tyme in which RBank has a 20 percent stake.

RBank has 190 branches/branch-lite units, 393 ATMs, and online and mobile banking channels. BPI has 1,181 branches and 2,398 ATMs/CAMs.