Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) board of directors has approved the proposed merger with Gokongwei Group-backed Robinsons Bank.
The approval comes after the BPI board’s regular board meeting on 17 November 2022.
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In September this year, Ayala Group-backed BPI and Robinsons Bank announced plans to merge their operations to form a leading lender based on market capitalisation.
The financial value of the deal was not disclosed.
As per the earlier announcement, JG Summit and Robinsons Retail will together control about 6% of the combined company when BPI purchases Robinsons Bank from them.
The firms aim to complete the merger before the end of 2023, with BPI as the surviving entity.
Through the merger, the firms hope to “unlock various synergies” across the products and service platforms, as they expand the customer and deposit base of the combined entity.
Robinsons Bank offers services to customers in the corporate, retail, and commercial sectors through its 189 branches, branch-lite locations, 354 ATMs, and online banking platforms.
A special shareholders meeting will be held on 17 January 2023 to secure approval for the merger.
Robinsons Bank has total assets of PHP175.9bn ($3bn) as of 30 June 2022, including PHP102.4bn ($1.78bn) in net loans and receivables and PHP139bn ($2.4bn) in deposits.
BPI’s board has also approved the increase in its authorised capital stock by PHP4bn ($69m) to PHP54.6bn ($952m), the Manila Times reported.
It will be divided into 5.4 million common shares and 60 million preferred shares.
In addition, the bank declared a cash dividend of PHP1.06 ($0.018) per share, for the second semester of the year 2022, on the total outstanding common shares of the capital stock of BPI.
