RCBC targets doubling loan portfolio this year

THE Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) aims to post a double-digit growth of its loan portfolio this year on the back of innovative programs and new products.

RCBC Consumer Lending Group (CLG) Ramil De Villa was quoted as saying in a statement issued last Monday the lender aims to grow its loan portfolio by 26.98 percent to P160 billion this year from the P126 billion recorded in 2023.

RCBC said loan growth will be driven by campaigns and programs, targeted selling using analytics, new products, upgrading of the existing loans management system, continuous process improvement and internal sales growth.

“That’s how aggressive we are growing the business. We intend to sustain our momentum this year through our strong synergy with one of our biggest shareholders,smbc [Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp,]. SMBC has a specific interest in consumer loans,” De Villa said.

The company’s monthly booking has recorded a 117-percent year-on-year increase, from P2.482 billion in January 2023 to P5.4 billion in Jan 2024.

Auto and housing loans registered strong growth in its share in RCBC’S total loan portfolio, aside from other consumer products like credit cards, personal loans and salary loans.

“As the unit with the highest growth target among RCBC’S business units, CLG aims to increase its share of growth even further,” De Villa said.

The SMBC increased its shareholdings in RCBC in 2023, from 4.999 percent to 20 percent, bringing in P27.126 billion of new Core Equity Tier 1 (“CET1”) capital to the Bank.

This capital infusion is part of the Bank’s capital raising plan to support long-term sustainable asset growth and investments in technology and cyber security and human resources.

The SMBC is one of the largest banks in Japan and is the commercial banking arm of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG), while RCBC is a leading financial services provider in the Philippines, offering a wide range of banking and financial products and services.