RIZAL COMMERCIAL Banking Corp. (RCBC) has secured regulatory approval for an offering of Tier 1 notes as it looks to beef up its capital.

The bank received approval from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ Monetary Board to issue offshore non-cumulative subordinated additional Tier 1 capital securities qualified under Basel III standards, it said in a filing on Tuesday.

Credit Suisse Group AG is the sole global coordinator and sole bookrunner for the transaction and arranged a series of fixed- income investor calls starting Tuesday.

“A Reg[ulation] S only dollar-denominated perpetual non-call five-year non-cumulative subordinated Additional Tier 1 Securities offering may follow subject to market conditions,” RCBC said.

Moody’s Investors Service has assigned Ba3 rating to the proposed issuance, taking into consideration factors such as “the mandatory and/or discretionary coupon suspension on a non-cumulative basis; its contractual principal write-down feature, and the issuance’s subordinated claim in liquidation.”

RCBC Senior Executive Vice- President and Treasurer Horacio E. Cebrero III said earlier this month they are pushing back a planned dollar bond issuance and will likely tap the local debt market again within this semester through medium-term papers.

The bank raised P16.616 billion from its issuance of two-year bonds in July that carry a coupon rate of 3.25%. Proceeds from the transaction will be used to support RCBC’s lending activities and refinance its debts.

DISKARTECH
In a separate statement, RCBC said it has onboarded 8 million sari-sari stores, market vendors and informal home-based micro-businesses to its digitization drive in a partnership with the Department of Trade and Industry launched in October.

The Negosyantech program under the bank’s DiskarTech initiative allows small businesses to tap digital transactions and sachet banking services.

The bank’s DiskarTech app allows sari-sari stores to accept digital payments for electricity, bills, fund transfers, insurance purchase and cash-outs, among others.

RCBC’s net profit plunged 40.9% to P802 million in the second quarter from P1.356 billion a year ago as higher loan loss provisioning offset better trading gains. Despite this, its net income in the first half of the year climbed 17% to P3.11 billion.

The Yuchengo-led lender’s shares ended trading at P16.40 apiece on Tuesday, down by 20 centavos or by 1.2% from its previous close. — L.W.T. Noble

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