BDO, Japan bank link up

The country’s largest bank, BDO Unibank, has signed a collaboration deal with Japanese commercial bank Aozora Bank Ltd. to serve Japanese firms doing business in the Philippines.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday, BDO said the collaboration would cover merger and acquisition advisories and investment banking services. The two banks signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday to flesh out the partnership.

BDO senior vice president and head of international desks Edward Wenceslao said the tie-up with Aozora could give BDO “broad coverage in the major prefectures with the most number of Japanese investments in the Philippines.”  These are the prefectures of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima and Fukuoka.

Aozora, which has been operating since 1957, has 30 branches across Japan alongside five overseas offices.

“It occupies a unique position as neither a mega bank nor a regional financial institution and is active in the provision of deposits, loans and debentures, loan syndication, securitization, business and asset revitalization,” BDO said in its statement.

Aozora also provides advisory services to corporate, financial institution and retail clients.

For its part, BDO has been in various partnerships with eight Japanese regional banks since 2013.  The goal was to provide financial service assistance to clients that want to do business in the Philippines.

BDO maintains a full-staffed Japanese-speaking desk, which is dedicated to marketing and servicing Japanese companies operating in the country and addressing their retail requirements.