Metrobank offers long-term deposit notes

Ty family-led Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (Metrobank) Tuesday launched a new offering of high-yielding long-term deposits worth at least P5 billion, aiming to lock in long-term funding and take advantage of ample liquidity in the market and low interest rates.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Metrobank said it was offering long-term negotiable certificates of deposits (LTNCDs) with a tenor of seven years at an annual interest rate of 3.5 percent.

The offering will run until Sept. 12 this year. Metrobank reserves the right to increase the offering.

The LTNCDs will be issued in minimum denominations of P50,000 and increments of P50,000 thereafter.

The bank has mandated ING Bank as the sole arranger, book runner and selling agent while Metrobank itself will also serve as a selling agent.

LTNCDs are negotiable certificates of time deposits and are tax exempt for qualified individuals if held for at least five years. These are bank products with long tenors and are offered to investors looking for interest rates higher than those on regular savings accounts or shorter-term deposits.  These are insured by Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. (PDIC) up to a maximum of P500,000 per depositor.

Earlier, Metrobank’s board approved the issuance of LTNCDs in one or more tranches worth at least P10 billion.

The last time it tapped the LTNCD market was in 2014.

In the first semester, Metrobank grew its core profit in the first semester by some 5 percent year-on-year to P9.1 billion as the bank unlocked higher interest earnings from fast-growing lending activities alongside higher treasury gains.

The bank booked about P600 million in non-recurring gains in the first half of 2015.  Including the impact of one-off items, earnings in the first half of this year were lower than last year’s headline profit of P9.29 billion. Doris Dumlao-Abadilla