RCBC to spin off trust group into new firm

Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) announced its move to establish a stand-alone trust corporation, with its affiliate House of Investment co-investing in this venture.

In a disclosure on Tuesday, the Yuchengco-led bank said its board of directors had approved its plan to spin off its trust and investments group into a stand-alone trust company.

Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales Luis Limlingan told the Inquirer that the spin-off was a “statement that RCBC has solidly established its confidence in the said unit, envisioning the latter can achieve lucrative prospects more efficiently on its own.”

“RCBC’s trust and investment group has consistently performed well in the past years, posting double-digit growth, except in 2020 [or during] the onslaught of a pandemic,” he added.

A trust company serves as an agent on behalf of entities, person or business, for the purpose of management and transfer of their assets to a beneficiary.

Portfolio of services

RCBC’s current trust services include trusteeship of retirement fund management, corporate and institutional trust, preneed trust fund management, employee savings plan, personal management trust and mortgage or collateral trust.

It also offers several unit investment trust funds (UITF), such as Rizal Peso Money Market Fund, Rizal Peso Cash Management Fund, Rizal Peso Bond, Rizal Equity Fund and Rizal Dollar Money Market Fund.

Last year, the listed bank introduced RCBC US Equity Index Feeder Fund, which is a UITF deemed ideal for investors interested in seeking capital growth by investing in Google, Amazon, Apple and other top US companies in the S&P 500 index.

RCBC, meanwhile, also declared a cash dividend on Tuesday to convertible preferred shares amounting to P0.14068 each share, or for a total of P37,618.75. The dividend is payable to holders as of Dec. 21.

The listed bank said that the “actual and final amount of the cash dividends may be lower if there are additional conversions to common stock prior to and up to Dec. 21.”

The financial institution reported that its nine-month net income improved by 88 percent to P10.1 billion from a year ago, supported by the 29-percent growth in gross income. Net interest income was up 13 percent to P24 billion on the back of its loan and investment securities portfolio.