EastWest eyes P15B from LTNCDs

EAST WEST Banking Corp. (EastWest Bank) is looking to raise up to P15 billion by selling peso-denominated long-term negotiable certificates of deposit (LTNCD).

In a disclosure to the local bourse on Thursday, the Gotianun-led bank said its board of directors approved the issuance of up to P15 billion worth of pesodenominated LTNCDs. Terms of the offering were not disclosed.

The offering will still need regulatory approval from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

EastWest Bank said it will issue LTNCDs to “diversify its funding sources as part of its overall liability management.”

LTNCDs are similar to regular time deposits which offer higher interest rates, but the difference is that these cannot be pre-terminated. Being “negotiable” means that these can be traded at the secondary market prior to maturity date.

In August 2017, EastWest Bank listed P2.631 billion worth of long- term debt notes on the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. ( PDEx), completing the five- tranche borrowing plan worth P10 billion. The LTNCDs were all due by 2022.

EastWest Bank is the 13th largest commercial bank in the Philippines in asset terms, with P296.53 billion as of end- September 2017.

The bank reported it booked a P3.75- billion net income for the first nine months of 2017, a 60% jump from the P2.33 billion recorded in the same months a year ago.

Shares in EastWest Bank fell by 1.3% or 40 centavos to P30.35 apiece on Thursday. —