Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), one of the Philippines’ fastest-growing banks, participated in the Singapore FinTech Festival recently where it celebrated the country’s digital transformation journey and its pioneering solutions.
During the 3-day festival, the country’s 6th largest private universal bank in terms of assets and an affiliate of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), the second largest multinational banking and financial services institution in Japan, also showcased the continuous digitalization of the Philippines to more than 90,000 attendees from over 100 countries.
To bring the Philippine digital experience to Singapore in the most immersive way possible, the bank used hologram-based visuals to promote its digital solutions to the public.
These solutions include RCBC’s all-in finance hub RCBC Digital, multi-lingual financial inclusion super-app “DiskarTech,” the Philippines’ first neighborhood ATM and largest last mile mobile RCBC ATM Go network, as well as its latest phygital or physical-digital solution, the RCBC “MoneyBela Barangayan Banking.”
According to Lito Villanueva, Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation and Inclusion Officer of RCBC, these innovative solutions from RCBC are important and life-changing milestones for the Philippines’ swift rise toward becoming a digital, financially inclusive country.
“Innovation with empathy is using technology not to impress but to express our genuine understanding of the needs and situations of our customers, and delivering these demand-driven inclusive innovations at scale. The future is not tomorrow, it is now,” Villanueva said in his hologram message delivered during the event.
The festival was organized by Elevandi, Constellar, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, as well as The Association of Banks in Singapore and is considered the world’s most impactful FinTech festival and global platform for the FinTech community in the region. For the first time since 2019, the festival has returned as an in-person event this 2022.
Increasing its value and reach through digital efforts, added investment
This year also marked RCBC’s first-ever participation in the Singapore fintech event, with its continuing digital and business transformation further enhancing its value and reach.
Making this possible was the latest capital infusion it received from SMBC, RCBC’s Japanese bank partner, which poured in an additional investment worth US$460.8 million or roughly P27.13 billion to effectively increase its stake from five per cent to 20 per cent.
Under the deal, SMBC will buy 382 million worth of RCBC shares at PHP 71 each, which is more than triple the current share price and about 1.5 times its book value per share. The stake is also considered a 61 per cent premium to the price paid for its initial 4.999 per cent stake acquired in June 2021.
The latest infusion will allow RCBC to expand its core businesses in key customer segments such as SMEs, corporate, consumer, and retail markets, including high-net-worth clients, the mass affluent, and the mass market with its massive digital transformation thrust.
To date, RCBC is considered the Philippines’ 6th largest privately-owned universal bank, a big jump from its 8th place position in terms of asset ranking in 2018 or about four years ago. RCBC also reported a consolidated income of P10.1 billion for the first nine months of 2022, a whopping 88% increase from the same period last year and surpassing the P7 billion profit it achieved for the whole year of 2021.
The bank was able to accomplish and maintain this feat from 2020 to the present, even breaching the P1-trillion asset mark by end of June 2022 in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as various investment activities that were undertaken by its competition.
RCBC has now also become the most awarded Philippines bank. Among its recognitions include being cited as the Philippines’ Best Bank for Digital by Asiamoney for three consecutive years, and back-to-back wins for Best Financial Inclusion App by The Asian Banker’s Financial Technology Innovations Awards.