Sterling Bank on acquisition mode

Sterling Bank Asia, one of the largest independent thrift banks in the country, is on the lookout for new acquisitions as a means to fast-track growth and possibly obtain a license to upgrade to commercial banking.

The seven-year-old thrift bank, which is led by the Tiu family, also sees a stock market debut in two to three years, bank president Lamberto Villena said in a recent interview.

At the sidelines of the launch of Sterling Bank’s US dollar ShopNPay prepaid card—the first among the country’s thrift banks to offer this product—Villena said the thrift bank was already beefing up capital in tranches rather than in one big exercise.

To date, he said the thrift bank had obtained authority from the board to increase capital from P4 billion to P5 billion.

After buying Centennial Savings Bank in 2009, Villena said the bank had since then scouted for fresh acquisitions, submitting a formal offer for Asiatrust Development Bank and participating in the bidding for GSIS Family Bank.

Asiatrust was afterwards acquired by Asia United Bank while the bidding for GSIS Family Bank was preempted by an injunction from the court.

Villena said Sterling Bank was very much interested in the GSIS bank because this bank had the option to increase branches and likewise convert into a commercial bank.

He said Sterling Bank had also tried to bid for the license of Export Bank, whose license was about to be auctioned off separately from the assets of the main bank years ago but the bidding was likewise stopped by a court order.

Because the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is not keen on issuing a new license for commercial banking, he said the only way for Sterling Bank to upgrade would be to buy an existing commercial bank.

Apart from bragging rights, the advantages of upgrading to a commercial bank include better co-party recognition and risk profile, Villena said.

In two to three years’ time, he said Sterling Bank would be ready to debut on the stock market. “By that time, we have a complete product line,” he said.

Since its inception seven years ago, Sterling Bank has so far rolled out 38 branches.  Doris C. Dumlao