RCBC to expand products, services for SMEs as it banks on sector for growth
RIZAL COMMERCIAL Banking Corp. (RCBC) is looking to tap small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for growth and plans to use technology to expand its products and services for the sector.
鈥淲e really like the way SMEs are moving. We think SMEs are coming out of the pandemic very strongly, and therefore, we do want to throw a lot of resources and energy behind growing our business with the SME sector,鈥 RCBC Executive Vice- President and Global Transaction Banking Group Head Emmanuel T. Narciso said in an interview with 大象传媒.
Mr. Narciso said RCBC is investing in technology to boost its services for the SME segment.
鈥淲e鈥檙e really looking at how we can leverage digital, which was, in the past, more in the realm of the large corporate and the retail side. We鈥檙e looking at how we can leverage that on the SME side to deliver better products and to be more efficient in terms of how we deliver those products for them,鈥 he said.
鈥淥n the SME side鈥 that鈥檚 where we want to throw the digital energy, so to speak,鈥 Mr. Narciso said, adding they plan to launch products and services for the sector within the year.
The official said the bank鈥檚 ongoing initiatives are seen to help continue its growth momentum.
鈥淲e have a lot of capital coming in from SMBC (Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.), the Japanese bank, which is the 12th largest bank in the world. So, you put all that together, we鈥檙e very well positioned to be able to use that capital to boost the income of the bank even more,鈥 Mr. Narciso said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e all hoping that the economy picks up鈥 As you know the biggest income of a bank comes from net interest income. So, we have deposits, we鈥檝e been growing deposits very well. But if we don鈥檛 lend that out, the net interest income doesn鈥檛 grow as fast. So, we鈥檙e really hoping that the economy puts us in a position where all the capital and all the deposits which we鈥檙e growing, we鈥檙e able to deploy that into earning assets,鈥 he added.
SMBC in November hiked its stake in RCBC to 20% from 5%, infusing P27.1 billion in fresh capital into the local bank.
RCBC鈥檚 attributable net income increased by 71% to P12.1 billion in 2022 from P7.1 billion in the year prior on the back of improved performance across its core businesses.
This translated to a return on equity of 11.2% and a return on assets of 1.2%.
The bank had a consolidated network of 462 branches, 1,352 automated teller machines (ATM), and 1,559 ATM Go terminals nationwide at end-2022.
RCBC鈥檚 shares closed at P23.95 each on April 5, up by P1.08 or by 4.72% from the previous day. 鈥 A.M.C. Sy
