RCBC-SMBC deal leads Singapore Fintech Festival 2022

This year saw the first-ever participation of RCBC as an affiliate of the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation — Japan's second largest multinational banking and financial services institution — as the Japanese bank increased its five percent stake to 20 percent in the 6th largest private universal bank in terms of assets with an additional investment of $460.8 million or P27.13 billion.

Under the deal, SMBC will buy 382 million RCBC shares at P71 each, which is more than triple the current share price and about 1.5 times its book value per share. The stake is also a 61 percent premium to the price paid for its initial 4.999 percent stake acquired in June 2021.

The latest infusion will allow RCBC to expand its core businesses in key customer segments such as corporate, SMEs, and consumer, retail markets including high-net-worth clients, the mass affluent, and the mass market with its massive digital transformation thrust.

RCBC reported a consolidated income of P10.1 billion for the first nine months of 2022, a whopping 88 percent increase from the same period last year, surpassing the P7 billion profit achieved in the whole year of 2021.