Central bank approves BPI sale of stake in GoTyme Bank

THE BANGKO SENTRAL ng Pilipinas (BSP) has approved Bank of the Philippine Islands’ (BPI) sale of its shares in GoTyme Bank, which it gained from its merger with Robinsons Bank Corp. (RBC).

“Please be advised that in its Resolution No. 1145 dated Oct. 3, the (BSP) approved the sale of BPI’s shareholdings in GoTyme Bank Corp. in favor of GoTyme Financial Pte. Ltd. and Giga Investment Holdings Pte. Ltd.,” the Ayala-led lender said in a stock exchange filing.

BPI’s board of directors approved the sale on March 20. The bank’s representatives on April 1 then signed the deeds for absolute sale.

Gokongwei-led JG Summit Capital Services Corp. and Tyme Group earlier said their board of directors had also approved plans to buy out BPI’s minority stake in the digital lender.

BPI earlier said it sold its stake in GoTyme Bank “to address any potential conflict of interest created by the significant overlap in and similarity of product offerings of GoTyme Bank and BPI.”

Under the transaction, BPI sold 752.06 million common shares in GoTyme Bank at P1.20 per share, or P902.47 million in cash.

It said 744.1 million common shares in GoTyme were sold to Gokongwei-led GoTyme Financial, while 7.96 million common shares went to Giga Investment.

The shares sold by BPI accounted for 15% of the outstanding capital stock of GoTyme Bank.

The merger between BPI and Robinsons Bank took effect on Jan. 1, with BPI as the surviving entity.

GoTyme Bank is a partnership between the Gokongwei and Tyme groups. It is one of the six digital banks licensed by the BSP to operate in the country.

The online lender began commercial operations in October 2022 and is targeting 5 million customers by yearend from about 3 million now. It also expects to turn a profit within the next three years.

BPI’s net income grew by 17.5% to P15.3 billion in the second quarter on faster revenue growth. This brought its first-half earnings to P30.56 billion, up by 21.51% year on year.

Its shares closed at P141 on Thursday, down by a peso from the previous day’s finish. — Aaron Michael C. Sy