BDO, Shinkin Central Bank ink partnership
SY-LED BDO Unibank, Inc. (BDO) is set to offer its banking services to the clients of Japan’s Shinkin Central Bank (SCB) after the two companies inked a partnership, with the collaboration poised to enhance the economic relationship between the Philippines and Japan.
In a statement e-mailed to reporters on Tuesday, the country’s largest bank in asset terms announced it has agreed to form a business cooperation with SCB, with the local lender to provide its financial services to the foreign bank’s small and medium enterprise (SME) clients operating in the country and those who have yet to set up shop here.
Banking services to be offered by BDO to the SME clients of SCB include financial facilities, cash management and payment services, foreign exchange and other treasury products.
“BDO is the most desirable partner which is what our customers are looking for,” SCB
Managing Director Hiroshi Sudo was quoted as saying in a statement.
SCB functions as the central financial institution in Japan for the cooperative regional financial institutions known as shinkin banks.
The Japanese financial institution has a subsidiary in London and four representative offices situated in New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Bangkok.
By end-2016, BDO had a total branch network of 982 including one of its branches in Hong Kong. Broken down, 492 are located in Metro Manila while 305 are in Luzon, 108 in Visayas and 76 in Mindanao.
According to the bank, it wants to continue expanding its footprint to end 2017 with 1,042 branches.
The listed lender’s bottom line reached P26.1 billion last year, 4% higher from the P25.1 billion booked in 2015 and hitting its P26-billion earnings guidance, on the back of a double-digit growth in its interest and fee-based revenues.
Shares in BDO gained P1.50 or 1.25% to close at P121.50 apiece on Tuesday.