RIZAL Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) announced on Monday its partnership with one of South Korea’s largest banks in a bid to establish connections at the dawn of regional banking integration.
The bank said in a statement it has signed a “business cooperation agreement” with KB Kookmin Bank in Seoul, South Korea, earlier this year.
The agreement aims to “provide high-quality financial services to corporate customers of both countries by adopting corporate customer tie-up program.”
The main contents of the agreement include “mutual cooperation for maintaining and increasing Korean corporate customer base,” “joint marketing for corporate customers of direct remittance service” and “sharing know-how to improve service quality for corporate customers” and others, the statement read.
Kookmin Bank was founded in 1963 and is one of the leading commercial banks in Korea in terms of total assets. The Korean bank has 23 global networks in 10 countries, including branches in New York, Tokyo, Beijing and Hong Kong. It had no presence in the Philippines.
RCBC, meanwhile, shared its “strong and long-established relationship with Korean corporates” since it started deals with Korean garment and shoe companies in Bataan in the end of 1970s.
The local bank also had business relationship with Hana Bank in the mid-1990s. As the Korean business in the Philippines grew, RCBC established the Korean Business Relationship Office (KBRO) in 2014 and where two Koreans, Jae-hoon Oh and You-min Kim, have been working as of now.
The Asean’s vision for the financial integration seeks to achieve a well-harmonized and smoothly functional financial system by 2025, characterized by more liberalized capital account regimes and interlinked capital markets.
Part of this financial integration vision is the ABIF, or the framework agreed among the Asean member-states to facilitate the entry and operation of Qualified Asean Banks in other Asean countries to promote equal access and treatment among local banks and foreign entrants in each economy.
In a recent survey by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, local banks bared that they are looking to leverage on technology and trust in order to maintain growth and profitability, amid the impending regional banking integration.
The local industry’s top three banks’ plans to maintain their stronghold amid the integration include developing new capabilities, expanding market reach and leveraging client
relationship.