[ Manila Bulletin Online ] April 2, 2008
The Yuchengco Group’s Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC), the country’s fourth largest private bank in capitalization, will sell a P975 million property located in prime Ayala Avenue in Makati.
The bank’s board of directors yesterday approved the sale of the CBD (central business district) lot to Valparaiso I Land Holdings Inc. as part of its real and other properties acquired (ROPA) disposal.
As of September 2007, RCBC has sold R4-billion worth of non-performing assets. For full year 2006, the bank also disposed over P4 billion in ROPA via special purpose vehicle, public auctions and direct sales.
RCBC still has more than P5 billion of bad assets.
Last year the bank posted a 56-percent net income growth of P3.21 billion.
RCBC President Lorenzo V. Tan, who came on board as the bank’s CEO last year, said their 2007 net income is higher than the goal of P2.5 billion.
During RCBC’s relaunching of its SME (small and medium enterprise) Loan Program, the bank again established itself as an active lender to the sector.
As of end-December, it has released P6 billion as loans to SMEs. Tan is targetting to increase this amount to P25 billion by 2010.
"The initial steps we have so far taken, will be complemented with other bold measures that should contribute towards further improving our service capabilities and our ability to expand our SME portfolio," said Tan.
The SME sector is one of biggest employers in the country, accounting for about 80 percent of employment generation. It also covers 91 percent of total businesses in the country, providing for the needs of local consumers, as well as, foreign buyers, and even supplying critical inputs and services needed by some of the country’s largest corporations.
RCBC said it is "intent on strongly supporting the SME sector even after the mandated Magna Carta for Small Enterprises lapsed in August last year." A new SME law is presently being discussed and finalized in Congress.
RCBC is the fourth largest capitalized private universal bank in the country with more than 303 branches nationwide.
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