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THE
investment-hungry Chinese that eyed Asia Trust Bank as a
possible buy have shifted sights on the larger
Philippine Bank of Communications.
People
with knowledge of the goings-on in the industry said the
Industrial and Commercial Bank of
China,
or ICBC, examined books of the universal lender—also
known as PBCom—whose liquidity troubles in 2004 have not
quite left it to this day.
They
said ICBC and PBCom were in the “talking stage” and that
the Chinese bank is exploring the possibility of buying
the local bank to build a Philippine presence.
The
well-moneyed Chinese lender is now in many Asian cities
and has recently stretched its presence to as far away
as Russia.
PBCom
should be the better choice for the Chinese investors
but the bank, people said, is not without its problems.
Calls
made by the BusinessMirror to the office of Roman Azanza
Jr., PBCom president and chief executive officer, were
unanswered as of press time.
In its
latest statement of condition, PBCom bared the loss of
the privilege to approach the rediscounting window of
the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. It has also lost the
privilege to transact in the lucrative special deposit
accounts, or SDAs.
The loss
of privileges attest to the hard times the lender has
fallen in recent years. Only banks that maintain a
healthy financial condition may exercise such
privileges.
By the
end of 2007, PBCom accessed the interbank market for
less than P500 million. Bank transactions in the
interbank market normally reach P2 billion.
It also
incurred P2.178 billion in nonperforming loans, or 18.23
percent of its portfolio.
This is
rather high considering the industry standard averages
only 4.45 percent during the period.
Its
return on equity, or ROE, was 1.29 percent.
The Luy
family—who previously wanted to sell their stake to
business tycoon Lucio Tan, who controls Philippine
National Bank—owns 37 percent of PBCom.
The
Nubla and Chung families own 28 percent and 26 percent,
respectively. They wanted to sell theirs to Tan’s rival
Emilio Yap, who owns Philtrust Bank.
The feud
pressured the exposure of the state’s Philippine Deposit
Insurance Corp., or PDIC, which gave the bank P7.64
billion in liquidity assistance.
The PDIC
had to remind the Nubla and Chung families they cannot
pledge their PBCom shares to Yap as long as the
liquidity package remains outstanding. |
