YUCHENGCO-led Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) has set a lower minimum placement to as low as $300 through an online foreign exchange product that converts Philippine peso to the greenback for investment in a 90-day US time deposit.
RCBC Treasurer Alberto Magno N. Pedrosa said on Tuesday the bank hopes its product—called “Online FX”—to provide clients and potential investors another option to grow their funds through US dollars.
The minimum investment of $300 is lower compared to the regular over-the-counter 90-day US time deposit product currently being offered at RCBC Digital at $1,000.
RCBC’s new US TD facility is an exclusive online forex product for investors exchanging their peso holdings to the greenback for investment purposes with a maximum daily limit of $10,000 per day, “giving peso based investors an opportunity to diversify their investments from pesos to US dollars all in the convenience of their time,” the bank said.
“Online FX” also allows consumers to also enjoy the same accessibility and convenience of online banking, the lender said.
Clients who avail “Online FX” can also enjoy higher US time deposit interest rate of 0.75 percent versus the 0.50-percent peso time deposit interest rate for the same peso equivalent, Pedrosa said.
As of March, RCBC is one of the largest private domestic banks in the Philippines in terms of assets and has a network of over 444 branches and 2,492 automated teller machines (ATM) and ATM Go units.
RCBC’s retail products and services include transactional loans, mortgages, personal loans, online banking, credit card and checking and savings accounts.
RCBC posted a consolidated net income of P2.1 billion for the first quarter, higher by 36 percent from last year’s P1.58 billion, buoyed by robust core business growth.
Revenues reached P9.9 billion for the period, 19 percent higher than the previous year’s P8.31 billion.
RCBC’s shares were last traded on Monday and closed at P19.96 per share.